


In Another Life

by Magicath808



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Anxiety, Bisexual Lance, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gay Keith, Hate to Love, I don't know what I'm doing, Keith is a cowboy, Lance is a farmer, Langst, M/M, Pining, Rivals, Soulmates, acepidge, comingout, klangst, nonbinarypidge, slowburn, smartlance, somementalhealthstuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-07 05:26:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 26,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15901791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magicath808/pseuds/Magicath808
Summary: In another life would things have gone differently?Lance is just a humble farm boy who wants more than anything to follow his hero Takashi Shirogane, and get into the aerospace engineering program at Garrison Tech University. When Lance gets in, he's achieving everything he's ever wanted, everything he's worked so hard for. He's moving in with his best friends, meeting his hero. Everything should be perfect.Except it isn't at all.Lance's long lost rival from space camp, Keith, just has to show up.But something feels weird. Like maybe Keith and him are more similar than they realize? Why does Lance keep feeling deja vu around this guy? Can they maybe, actually get along?It's teen because there is internal homophobia and Lance deals with some mental health stuff, but like it's pretty tame.Also this fanfic is like a love letter to the Klance fandom...so thank you





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written a long form story and I've never written an AU so please be patient with me. 
> 
> Also the prologue is super emo and salty lol, so sorry.

Prologue

 

“In another life, I would be your boy,  
We keep all our promises, be us against the world,  
In another life, I would make you stay,  
So, I don’t have to say you were the one that got away,”

Katy Perry (The One That Got Away)

 

*

 

Keith stares at Lance and Allura. He can’t help it. 

Their faces flush. Edging closer and closer. Wrapped in each other’s arms, like they couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. 

Some part of Keith wished he had said something to Lance. He didn’t know what he wanted to say, but it was too late now. 

He always knew this would happen. That this is how it would end. 

But he didn’t realize it would hurt quite so much.

 

***

 

“I wanna hold you when I’m not supposed to,  
When I’m lying close to someone else,  
You’re stuck in my head and I can’t get you out of it,  
If I could do it all again,  
I know I’d go back to you,”

Selena Gomez (Back to You)

 

*

 

Voltron won. The war was over. Lance won the girl too. He should be ecstatic. He is happy. Or at least that’s what he keeps trying to tell himself. 

His arm is around Allura’s waist. He’s smiling like an idiot as she kisses his cheek. 

He got everything he’s ever wanted.

However, Lance wonders if this is what he needs.

And then out of the corner of his eye he sees it.

It shouldn’t bother him. He always knew the bond between Shiro and Keith was strong. Intense even. But something in his stomach hurts. Like he doesn’t like what he’s seeing. The two men, Lance’s role models, are arm and arm smiling fondly at each other. It bothers him. 

Lance pushes down the nausea. 

He wants Keith and Shiro to be happy. And together they are. 

 

***

 

“If you can see I’m the one who understands you,  
Been here all along so why can’t you see,  
You belong with me, you belong with me,”

Taylor Swift (You Belong with Me)

 

*

 

“Lance. Come on. Talk to me.” Keith clutches the boy to his chest. He knows Lance is bleeding out. He knows he can’t stop it. But he refuses to believe it. His voice cracks, “Hold on. We’re getting help.”

Lance’s lashes flutter open. “Just hold me,” he says his voice soft and broken.

Keith is crying. He lets out a strangled moan. 

Lance’s eyes close. He lets out a last sigh. He’s gone.

Keith didn’t even get to tell him.

 

***

 

“Why oh why does God keep bringing me back to you?  
I go back to you, back to you, back to you,  
Everytime,”

Ariana Grande (Everytime)

 

*

 

Lance wakes up crying, knowing something is off. He can’t quite remember the dream. A tear slides down his cheek. He feels like he lost something. He can’t quite remember what he lost, but he knows it was something important. 

His mom always said if you can’t remember your dream, it was because you were remembering your past life. Lance wonders what his past-self lost, and why it hurt so much.


	2. Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just setting up for the story :)

Chapter One

Lance chucked off his shoes and slide down the hall into the kitchen. His backpack was falling off his shoulders, his hair disheveled. 

“Mom. Did it come? Did it come? Pidge got theirs. Please tell me it came.”

“Hello to you too,” Lance’s mom laughed. She continued to clean the sink. “How was your day?”

Lance sighed and fell into the routine. He pecked his mom on the cheek. “It was fine. Same old.” Lance paused a moment. He could tell by his mom’s smile that she was teasing him. Prolonging this moment just to get under his skin. 

Lance shifted from foot to foot.

“It’s on the table,” Lance’s mom said.

Lance sprinted to the breakfast table and shuffled through the different papers. The McClain household was not always a neat and orderly place, not with five children and the extended family all under one roof. But finally, he found a large envelope with his name on it.

Lance lightly touched the orange seal before clutched the envelope to his chest and sprinted up the stairs. Lance tried not to get his hopes up. It was a big envelope. But that doesn’t mean anything, Lance told himself

“Aren’t you going to open it?” Lance’s mom called after him.

“Pidge, Hunk, and I are going to open it all together on skype.”

“Okay. Don’t forget to tell us,” She said.

Lance closed his door. His hands were shaking. He couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or nerves. He opened up skype. Pidge was already online. They lived on the east coast, which meant they had gotten out of school three hours earlier then Lance did, since he lived in California. Hunk was still three hours behind them since he lived in Samoa. 

Lance texted Pidge on their group chat. 

LanceyLance: Did you get it P?

Genius: Yeah, you?

LanceyLance: Yep. 

Genius: Is it big?????

LanceyLance: YEP. But I’m not getting my hopes up.

Foodforthought: I’m still stuck in class. It’s history. And I am so bored right now.

LanceyLance: I’m sorry man. But don’t worry I ain’t opening it.

Genius: I tore the corner. A little…

LanceyLance: PIDGE. STOP. DON’T DO IT.

Genius: I didn’t open it. I Just tore the corner.

LanceyLance: We gotta wait for HUNK. NO MORE.

Foodforthought: My mom texted me at lunch. It did come! For once the mail is here properly on time. So at least when I get home we can all open them!

LanceyLance: All right! Now I just gotta distract myself for the next three hours! Lol

Foodforthought: Sorry :(

LanceyLance: It’s fine I want to do it with you guys :)

Genius: Me too! Kind of…

LanceyLance: DON’T DO IT. 

Genius: Yeah, Yeah.

“Lance,” his sister called up the stairs. “Dad needs help in the barn.”

“Yeah. I’m coming.”

Lance told his friends he was off to do chores and made his way out of the house to the barn. The McClains owned a small dairy farm where they produced organic, PETA approved, no GMO all that good crap, dairy products, such as yogurt, cottage cheese, butters and creams. They sold mostly just locally, but they were also getting pretty big down in LA with the healthy, fancy people. 

All the kids helped out on the farm and in the dairy. 

“What’s up dad?” Lance said taking a big whiff of hay as he entered the barn. Most of the cows were still in the field, but Lance’s favorite cow, Kaltenecker was still in her pen.

“Kalt is acting weird. I wanted to see if you could get her to move. We need to clean out the pens today,” Lance’s dad said distracted as he shoveled out another similar pen.

Lance went over to the cow and stroked her snout. They had a special bond. Or so Lance liked to claim. He had helped deliver her. His parents and older siblings had been out on business, and it had been just him and his sister Veronica when Kalt’s mother gave birth. 

“Hey girl.” Lance gently rubbed the cow. The cow, stubborn like Lance himself, didn’t want to move, no matter how hard Lance coaxed. “Yeah she’s not moving.” Lance said eventually. “I’ll clean the pen.”

“Thanks,” Lance’s dad said back. “Luis in on some errands and Marco and Rachel are busy with the butter.”

“No problem dad,” Lance said grabbing a shoveled, “I don’t mind.” It was true. Lance loved taking care of the cows. Sure, it wasn’t always his favorite thing, I mean making ice cream with his mom was always going to be his favorite, but he loved working out in the sun until his muscles felt sore. 

“So, did you read the letter?”

“No. I’m waiting for the gang. We want to read it all together.”

“The space cadets?”

“Yeah.” Lance, Hunk, and Pidge had all met at space camp when they were twelve and kept rooming together for the next four years. They eventually all became long distance friends. Hunk and Pidge were a part of the reason Lance wanted to go to Garrison Tech University. Not the whole reason, but a big factor.

“It’s a big envelope,” Lance’s dad said.

“I know.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Who said I’m worried?” Lance said throwing his dad a cocky grin.

“You’re not blabbering about it. That’s how I can tell.”

“Wow. Thanks dad.”

“Just know. No matter what. We are so proud of you.”

Lance made a fake sniffling sound, “Wow dad. Either that line was super cheesy, or I have hay fever.”

“Okay fine. Get back to work goof ball.”

***

“Guys. Guy’s, I got in,” Pidge said a giant shit eating grin spreading across their face.

“You weren’t supposed to open it,” Lance said adjusting his headphones.

“Oh, you knew what was going to happen.” The image blurred for a minute as Pidge put up their acceptance letter. “It’s just so pretty.”

“You got a full ride too didn’t you, smarty?” Lance said, “You know what? Never mind I don’t want to know.” 

Pidge grinned again. “Sometimes it’s hard being so smart.”

“You didn’t bail out on me too did you buddy?” Lance said to Hunk ignoring Pidge.

“I got it right here. Unopened and everything.”

Lance took a deep breath and crossed himself, “Okay let’s do this.”

The two boys tore open their packages, Lance using his teeth, as the envelope would not cooperate. Hunk opened the letter neatly, tearing his finger along the seal.

Hunk stared at the page, “I got in.” Nothing registered across his face. Then a smile, “I got in. I got in. I got in.” he began to dance. He stopped. “Lance…”

Lance was not smiling, just staring down at his lap. A tear slid down his cheek.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Pidge started to say.

Lance flashed them the top of the paper. “I got in. Guys. I got in too,” He said softly. “We’re all going to Garrison Tech University.”


	3. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set up, lol, sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally getting to the good stuff... lol maybe. It's just a lot of the trio having fun! Fun stuff coming soon

Chapter Two

Lance couldn’t believe it. 

Just two hours ago he was reunited with his two best friends in the entire universe after two years apart. And now here they were unpacking in their shared dorm room. Life couldn’t be better. And Lance was counting the last time they met (their parents had surprised them all with a trip to Disneyworld in Florida and Lance had literally started crying in the airport when he saw Hunk and Pidge).

Lance had been worried that it would be a little weird between them, since their relationship was basically now an internet only thing. But they fell back into their easy pattern.

Hunk had disappeared, presumably to find food, so Pidge and Lance had given up unpacking. Their dorm had two rooms, four beds each, with a large common area in the middle, which was now stuffed with boxes. 

Hunk and Lance’s parents couldn’t really afford the plane out to the University, and Pidge had somehow convinced their parents to drop them off that morning (Pidge was only two hours away). Presumably their parents weren’t worried because Pidge’s brother Matt was also here as a grad student.

Lance and Pidge had moved the clunky desks against the large window and were currently watching the other freshmen carrying boxes and just generally being over judgmental in between conversation.

“Look at this dweeb,” Pidge said. 

Lance snorted at the kid ran back and forth between buildings.

“Oh, I see Hunk. He’s got pizza. Yes.” Lance said. “He got garlic knots too.”

“How can you tell from here?”

“I have a sixth sense about garlic knots. Plus, Hunk has a grease stained bag on top of the pizza, which can only mean one thing.”

“You know I feel like you can die from eating too many garlic knots.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

A pause.

“Do you think I’ll see him?” Lance said.

“Who?”

“Takashi Shirogane.”

“Oh. My. God. Please do not tell me you still have a crush on him.”

“I never did have a crush on him.”

“You have a shrine of him in your room. Wait, don’t tell me you brought the posters with you. If you brought even one news clipping I have every right to make fun of you.”

“It is not a shrine,” Lance said scooching up onto the desk and clasping his knees. He’s just really cool. He’s the—”

“Youngest to graduate from Garrison Tech, youngest teacher blah blah, lots of awards blah blah your hero forever,” Pidge said batting their eyelashes. “I know the spiel. I’ve heard it for the past what five years?”

Lance had been following Takashi for a while online. Not in a creepy way. In the normal internet stalking way. He first became obsessed with him when he was twelve. Lance had started taking martial arts and eventually kendo. Which had led Lance to Takashi who was the US kendo child genius. 

Then he had gotten into the aerospace program at Garrison Tech at the age of 16. He was always winning awards and discovering stuff and figuring out math and science theories that just boggled Lance’s brain. 

Okay. So, he was a little obsessed. And maybe there had been a mild man crush along the way (But that was way in the past). All in all, Lance was just obsessed with space and engineering, and here was his kendo hero making all kinds of space discoveries. Lance just secretly hoped he could one day be as amazing as him.

Plus, Takashi had a boyfriend and was out as gay, which Lance thought was pretty cool.

Hunk opened the door. The amazing butter and unhealthy smell of pizza and garlic knots hit Lance. “You know I’ve been thinking. We have to be really nice when the other kid gets here.”

“You mean we have to be nice. As in you not included,” Pidge said pointedly.

“It’s not like you guys aren’t nice but think about being in this kid’s shoes. We literally have known each other for like ever. And were super close. And here is this new kid. Really nervous about moving to college but thinking it’s all okay because nobody knows each other, and then he gets here and his roommates are all best friends and unintentionally start shutting him out.”

“Dude, you are way over thinking this.” Lance sighed, “But I guess you make a valid point. We should make an effort to make sure he doesn’t feel left out.”

“Why are you both looking at me?” Pidge said as the two boys stared at them.

“Lance may be obnoxious but he’s outgoing, you on the other hand are not always friendly.” Hunk tried to say in a gentle voice.

“I’m friendly. See look friendly.” Pidge did a weird little dance.

“You literally slapped me the first time we really talked.”

“You were trying to steal my peanut butter cookies.”

“You are never going to get over that are you.”

“If you just hadn’t touched my stuff, we wouldn’t have had this problem.” Pidge said rolling their eyes.

“Okay,” Hunk said trying to save the conversation, “So what are we doing for the room assignments.”

“You room with Lance, Hunk. I’ll room with the new kid.”

“I thought we just established that you’re the unfriendly one,” Lance said poking Pidge in the side.

“Yeah, but I will not room with you. You wake up at the ass crack of dawn—”

Lance scoffed, “You go to bed at three am—”

“Yeah but that’s like normal college behavior.”

“Not when you need beauty sleep.”

“I mean I’m not arguing. You need all the help you can get,” Pidge said a giant grin on their face. 

Lance pounced at Pidge, tickling their side, right where Lance knew he could get them. After several minutes of this and Pidge’s wheezing, Pidge finally called uncle. Hunk rolled his eyes and sat next to them on one of the desks.

“Okay, so why don’t I room with the new kid?” Lance said.

“Uhhh are you sure that’s a good idea?” Pidge said.

“What?”

“Remember when counselor Iverson moved that new kid into our cabin our third summer.”

“James was asking for it. He was an asshat.”

“That’s beside the point,” Hunk said. “Pidge is right. You don’t always get along with people Lance. And your schedule can be weird. And don’t take this wrong, but you can just be a lot to handle.”

Lance smirked at Hunk, “You want to room with me that much bro? You the best.”

“No,” Pidge said, “We don’t want to scare the poor kid off.”

“Okay so what’s the arrangement then?”

“Pidge and new boy, and me and you,” Hunk shrugged.

And with that the three of them ripped open the bag and pizza box and began to devour the food.

“I would say a solid 5/10 are far as pizza’s go,” Hunk said.

“Definitely need to try out the other options,” Lance agreed. “Garlic knots only a 7/10”

“Has anybody beside your mom received a 10/10 rating for garlic knots?” Pidge said.

“Uh. Yes.”

“Who?”

“That one place,”

“Uh huh,” Pidge said.

Hunk, slowly coming out of his food coma, looked around the room. “Did you guys do anything since I went to get food?”

“Relax Hunk we still have all afternoon.”

“What were you guys doing this whole time? You were supposed to be unpacking.”

“We got bored,” Lance shrugged, “Pidge and I made this really fun game. We make up life stories for the kids walking around. Lance leaned against the window. Like this kid. She’s got her parents doting on her hand and foot. Bet she’s never left home before.”

“That’s mean,” Hunk said. 

Pidge grinned, “But it is fun.” Pidge glanced out the window. “Oh no. Look at this kid, Lance. He looks like he stepped out of 2005.”

“Where?”

“The super emo looking one. He looks like he’s going to an MCR concert.” Pidge said pointing.

Lance followed their finger, finding the kid in all black, a red bomber jacket tied around their waist. Lance sprung up and pressed his nose against the window as he watched the confused kid look up at their dorm building, “No. Nooooo. Nooo. No. No. No. No.” he turned to Pidge and pointed, “No.”

“Who is it,” Hunk said.

“Keith.” Lance said exacerbated as he tried to follow the figure as it climbed the steps up to their building.

“Who?” Pidge said.

“Keith. From space camp. You know. My rival.”

“Are you sure?” Hunk said.

“Yeah, Lance. Like, what are the odds.”

“I’d recognize that mullet anywhere.”

They all diverged into bickering. 

All three jumped as someone knocked on the door.


	4. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they were roommates! Oh my god they were roommates...
> 
> Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have things that I want to tentatively happen, but I'm really struggling for a direction with this story, since I'm really just pulling it out of thin air. If you have any idea, feel free to share!

Chapter Three

It was Keith. Of course, it was Keith, Lance thought as the door opened. Lance stood up and crossed his arms trying to make himself intimidating. He had always been tall, and he wanted to use it to his advantage. “You in the right room?”

Keith glanced back at the door. “Yeah.” He must have felt Lance’s animosity: he crossed his arms mirroring Lance.

“This cannot be happening. Ask for another room,” Lance said striving forward.

“What’s your problem?” Keith said.

“You’re my problem.”

“What did I do?” 

“Uh. You don’t remember? You don’t remember me?” 

Keith blinked, “Should I?” Keith edged closer, getting in Lance’s face, as if to say he wasn’t backing down. And then Lance realized. Keith had grown. It wasn’t just his muscular arms and broadened chest, and ragged mullet, no, Keith was ever so slightly taller than Lance.

“The name’s Lance?” Lance blinked twice. “We went to space camp together.”

“Uhhhh…”

“You know. We were like rivals. Lance and Keith neck and neck.”

Keith gave a blank stare. Did he really not remember who he was? Sure, it was just summer camp, but it had been for four years.

Keith glanced down at Lance. “Oh, I remember you. You were the kid they said would never make it. That you would be lucky to be a janitor at NASA.”

“Ouch,” Hunk said in the background.

“Well, I got in to Garrison Tech, didn’t I?”

“Well, congratulations,” Keith said his voice obviously filled with sarcasm. Keith tried to walk further into the room. 

“Uh bah, bah, bah, bah” Lance said throwing out an arm, “Where do you think you’re going. We’re going to sort this out right now.”

Keith sighed. “Listen. I’ve been trying to change to a single room for the past hour. There’s nothing we can do right now, so just tell me which room mine is, and I’ll get out of here.” Keith looked past Lance.

Pidge pointed to the room they had been moving their stuff into. 

“Thanks,” Keith said. He shoved past Lance, dropped his bag in the room, and strode out the door, red bomber jacket now on, hands in pockets. 

The door slammed shut. The three stood in silence. 

“He looks bigger to you right?” Lance said. “He’s definitely bigger.” 

***

Lance threw his stuffed shark on his bed and walked back into the living room. “Alright that’s the last of it. How you guys doing with the living room?”

“We’ve been done for forever,” Pidge said. Hunk and Pidge were in charge of setting up the gaming station, and they were now playing Mario Kart. Emptied boxes still littered the room, but everything looked put away.

Lance looked at his watch. It was just four o’clock, “We should be able to catch the end of the club fair.”

Nobody moved. “Oh, come on guys, college is more fun if we get involved.”

“College is also fun if you stay on the couch and watch Netflix,” Pidge said.

“Besides we already know what club we’re joining,” Hunk said putting down his controller. 

“Which one?”

“Robotics club. It’s pretty famous here.” Hunk said. Pidge and him high fived.

“Ugh. Sounds hard,” Lance said.

“Dude. You’re in the space engineering program. That’s hard,” Pidge said. Pidge had opted for a double major in physics and computer tech, although realistically, they could take any major and be fine.

“Yeah. Which is why I want my recreational actives to be fun.”  
“If you join a frat, I will not speak to you,” Pidge said.

“I’ll go with you Lance. Then we can pick up diner. Is Chinese okay, Pidge?”

“Sounds great,” Pidge said snuggling back farther into the sofa as they put in another game.

Hunk and Lance made their way down to the quad. “Should we get extra in case Keith comes back?”

“Why? He won’t want to eat with us.”

“Well, yeah, not now that you practically started a fight with him. But shouldn’t…”

“Do whatever Hunk. Ugh. Can we please stop talking about mullet?”

“Sure,” Hunk said. He paused, “Was he really your rival? I thought James was closer to Keith’s skill and stuff. And then Keith punched him that one time.”

Lance’s brows furrowed. “Can we please stop talking about him, jeez.”

“Sorry.”

The campus quad was overstuffed with booths and students milling around. Hunk and Lance were immediately handed twenty different flyers. Hunk had to eventually pull Lance away from the aquatic sports club, were Lance was giving the group of girls his classic smirk and dropping cheesy one-liners. 

“So what club are you really thinking about?”

Lance shifted. “They have a martial arts and kendo club here.”

“Oh, you did that for a while right?”

“Yeah. Martial arts since six, before I switched to kendo. I had to stop when I was sixteen.”

“The farm, right?”

“Yeah,” Lance said. It had been a difficult year. Veronica had been getting her masters then. Lance’s dad needed his help. They had to lay off some of their non-family member workers. “I’m not good enough for the regular team anymore obviously, they only have a karate team anyway, but they also have a recreational club here.”

“That’s really cool,” Hunk said.

“Don’t tell Pidge I’m joining. They already think I’m a weeb.”

“I mean, you are dude.”

“Thanks.”

“But like Pidge knows how much you love Kendo. They would never make fun of you for it. At least not in a way that they meant it.”

Lance scratched the back of his head, “Yeah. I know.”

The two wadded through the crowds until they got to a table at the end of the quad. The martial arts table was empty save for one student. And he didn’t seem to be getting many new members. He brightened as Lance and Hunk approached the table.

“Would you like to sign up?” He asked tentatively.

“I’m signing up,” Lane said enthusiastically.

“Great. Fantastic. I’m Daniel Klaizap, the president of the club. I do judo,” he said enthusiastically.

“Awesome. I did a little tai chi, but now I do kendo,” Lance said putting his name and email on the roster list.

“Cool. You’ll get to train with Takashi then. He’s a faculty member here and he helps me run the kendo section of our club since we don’t have a formal kendo team on campus.”

“Takashi?” Lance stammered. “Takashi Shirogane?”

“Yep.”

Lance turned to Hunk, “Hold me, I think I’m going to faint.”


	5. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A crazy set of messed up coincidences?

Chapter Four

That night their dorm floor had a general meeting. Lance was surprised when Keith showed up. He thought Keith would be the too cool for school type of guy.

“Okay,” the RA said. “That’s the general gist. Now I want you all to split up into your dorms and talk with your new roommates. Get to know one another. It’s important to be honest.” The RA handed a stack of forms to the circle of students. “Everybody needs to go through this form with your roommates. This will help you set up rules and expectations for one another. Don’t forget to do general introductions too. I expect this filled out by the end of the week.” 

Lance looked at the list. It was filled with all kinds of awkward questions about sleeping habits, who could come over, and could sex happen in the room. Ugh.

“Okay. You’re all free,” the RA said. 

“Let’s just get this over with,” Lance said to Pidge and Hunk. Lance looked behind him. Sure enough, Keith, the kid that didn’t remember Lance or his friends at all, was following them at a distance.

“What are you doing? You can walk next to us.” Lance said to Keith.

“I uh…I just thought,” Keith said.

“It’s creepy, you being all sulky behind us,” Lance said.

Keith made a face but caught up to the group. They walked in awkward silence down the hall and to their dorm. They sat around the TV. The trio on the couch, Keith in the armchair, looking like he was a second away from jumping up and running.

“So,” Hunk said trying to cut the awkward tension between the group. “This is one crazy coincidence. That we all know each other.”

“I mean we petitioned to room with each other,” Pidge said, “But yeah it’s odd that Keith is our roommate. But not statistically improbable.”

Hunk shot them a look as if to say, not helping.

“It’s a crazy and messed up coincidence, if you ask me,” Lance muttered.

Keith tsked and grabbed the form from Lance’s hand, “Let’s just finish this up.”

“Well. Let’s start with introductions first. I’m thinking we do name, hometowns and a fact about us? Since it’s been a while. I’m Hunk. It’s a nickname. I don’t want to explain it.”

Lance laughed. He knew the story behind the nickname. It was mostly Lance’s fault. But it was still a funny story.

Hunk shot Lance a look, then switched to a friendly smile. “I’m from Samoa. I was born in Chicago, but my family moved back when I was seven, so I don’t super remember it. Uh, I’m in the aerospace engineering program. I like food and building robots and stuff.” 

Hunk looked to Pidge who was in the middle of the couch. 

They gave a little wave. “I’m Pidge. I prefer they/them pronouns. I’m about two hours away, but on the Massachusetts side. I’m a double major in physics and computer tech. Technology is my one true love. Uh, I like peanut butter, and peanut butter cookies, but not peanuts? Does that count as a fact about myself?”

“Sure,” Hunk said. “Lance?”

Lance sat on the edge of the couch, body positioned away from Keith, legs hanging off the armrest, leaning against Pidge. “Lance. I’m from California. No not LA. The valley. My family has a farm. I’m in the aerospace engineering program with Hunk. I like my family, and swimming, and surfing, and anime, and martial arts.”

The three turned to Keith. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m Keith. I’m from Texas.”

“You don’t have an accent,” Lance shot off.

“Not all Texans have an accent okay. Anyway. My dad’s a part-time firefighter and we own a ranch, so that’s as Texan as you can get. Uh,” he flicked his eyes nervously around the three. “Um. I’m in the astrology program. I took a year off to travel around with a telescope.” He scratched his neck, “Like I went around tracking unique stuff that was happening, like the solar eclipse and comets and stuff.”

“Wow,” Hunk said, “That’s really cool.”

“Yeah. My parents would never let me do that,” Pidge added, “I graduated high school three years early, and they still made me go straight to college.”

Keith looked at Pidge “How old are you?”

“Fifteen. Almost sixteen.”

Keith looked at Pidge flabbergasted. Pidge smirked proud of themselves.

The group filled out the form. They decided, to keep quiet hours between midnight and eight. (They all looked at Lance, since he was the loudest). They decided shower schedules and how dirty the apartment could get (Hunk telling Lance to keep his socks on his side of the room, and Lance telling Hunk he could not leave food in the sink). The final rule they decided was that there was no canoodling in the room (again they all looked at Lance). 

With that done, Keith shuffled out of the room, going who knew where, while the three friends watched TV.

“Guess he doesn’t want to be our friend,” Pidge said when Keith left.

“Hey, it wasn’t for lack of trying,” Lance said.

“You could have tried harder,” Pidge said. “We all have a lot in common. We would probably get along together.”

“Yeah whatever,” Lance said.

“Hey. None of that,” Hunk said pushing into the bickering, “Lance you do need to try to get along with him.”

“Uh huh.”

“Serious what did he do? I barely remember him,” Pidge said.

“Stuff. I don’t want to talk about it,” Lance said. He crossed his arms. “I’m going to bed.”

Lance climbed into his freshly made bed and closed the door.

“Jeez. He can hold a grudge can’t he,” Pidge said. Hunk sighed.

“I can hear you,” Lance shouted from his bed.

***

Lance woke up to his phone buzzing. He rubbed his eyes. His head felt groggy. He felt at his cheek. Why am I crying again? Lance thought. Jeez I hate bad dreams. Again, he couldn’t remember the dream, but his chest felt hollow. 

His phone continued to buzz.

“Alright, alright,” Lance said grabbing at his phone. Then he saw the time. He had eight minutes to get to class. “Crap.” Lance picked up the call. “Dude. What the heck. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Hunk was panting on the other end, “I tried. Several times. Pidge slapped you. You wouldn’t wake up.” 

Out of all the classes to be late, it had to be his engineering class. Most of his classes were general requirements like English and math, but here he was late to the class he actually cared about, the class he actually wanted to make a good impression on.

Lance turned the phone on speaker mode as he climbed out of bed and rushed around the room. He slipped into a blue hoody and threw on a pair of jeans. “Where are you? Where’s the classroom? I’m on my way.”

“I’m on the bus right now. Dude, hurry, it’s really crammed, it took me twenty minutes to get on a bus.”

“Crap, the engineer department’s on North campus isn’t it,” Lance bagged his toe into his bed. He clutched at his foot. This day was not going right. North campus was set apart from the main campus and you had to take a fifteen-minute bus ride. Yep. He was never going to make it. “Why didn’t you wake me?” He whined into the phone.

“Like I said. I tried to. You wouldn’t wake up. It was super weird. You were super quiet and still and,” Hunk paused, “I think I need to hang up. People are giving me angry looks.”

“Okay, I’m getting out the door. I’ll talk to you later.”

Lance rushed out the door into the living room. Keith was on the couch reading a book and sipping a coffee. He raised an eyebrow at Lance, which Lance assumed meant he looked every bit of the disaster he felt like.

“I don’t have time for you,” Lance said striding to the door.

“Late for class?”

“Yes. And I have to get to North campus, so I gotta go.” Lance grabbed the door handle.

“I can give you a ride.” 

Lance turned to Keith. “What?”

“I can give you a ride. I’ll be faster than the bus.”

Lance crossed his arms suspicious. “Why would you help me?”

“Look. I’m just trying to get along with everybody. You started the animosity.”

Lance looked at his phone. He only had five minutes now. “Fine let’s go.” Lance looked at Keith, “Please,” he added.

It turned out Keith’s ride was a motorcycle. A big red and black motorcycle. Keith tossed Lance a helmet and climbed on.

“Is there a problem?” Keith asked.

Lance didn’t want to back down. And he definitely didn’t want Keith to know he was a little nervous. “Are those fingerless gloves. Lol, are you from 2006?”

“Just get on the bike,” Keith said.

Lance climbed on behind him. He refused to hold onto Keith’s waist, so he clutched at the plastic and metal underneath him.

At first it wasn’t much a problem. Keith was going maybe 35, and Lance had good balance. 

They neared the last intersection. Lance looked at his watch. Only a few minutes late. He could still make it without getting seriously reprimanded. Then the light changed yellow.

“Uh. Keith. Yellow light. Yellow light.”

Lance caught the edge of a smirk. “Yep,” Keith said. 

Keith revved the bike. Lance heard himself scream. He grabbed the back of Keith’s jacket as they dashed through the yellow, almost red light. 

“Are you crazy?” Lance said when they parked in front of the engineering building. 

Keith smirked, “You’re welcome.”

Lance tossed him back the helmet. Then he realized he forgot his backpack. Jeez this day just can’t go right, “Uh you wouldn’t happen to have a pencil, would you?”

“You are the worst pilot ever,” Keith said.

“What?” Lance said.

Keith frowned, “I said you are the worst student ever.”

“Whatever mullet.” Lance walked into the building. Was he imagining things? He remembered Keith saying pilot. But why would Keith say pilot? Lance shook his head and went to find his classroom.

***

The rest of the week was normal. As in Lance didn’t have any problems getting to class on time. Keith didn’t really stay in the dorms that much, except when he came in at one am to sleep, so Lance didn’t have to deal with him much.

Lance had his first club meeting on Thursday night. He was so excited he got there way to early and had to wait as other people showed up. The group was meeting in one of the older gym buildings in the old basketball hall. He made himself busy by trying to learn everyone’s names. Matt Holt, Pidge’s older brother, was also in the club. He was a grad student here. They slapped each other on the back as Matt asked how he was holding up. 

A voice rang through the gym. “Good evening students. I’m Coach Kolivan, and I run the Karate team on campus.” At the sound of the teacher’s voice everyone gathered around him. The man was tall, and really buff. Next to him stood Takashi Shirogane. In the flesh.

Lance couldn’t help but smile.

Then Lance’s worst nightmare happened. Keith with his scruffy mullet, and all black attire, slumped into the room. And what was worse. He had a kendo bag strapped to his back. 

Coach Kolivan noticed Keith. “Join the circle Kogane. Don’t be shy.” Kogane? That meant Kolivan knew Keith. Which was even worse. The group spread out to make a half decent circle and sat down. 

“Like I was saying. I run the Karate team. Since we’re such a small group, I also help manage the martial arts club. While you only train two days out of the week, on Tuesdays, you have general workouts with the team. During your regular practice on Thursday’s I will be running back and forth between the team and the club. Luckily I have some amazing assistants to help me out.”

He motioned to Shirogane. “This is Professor Shirogane, a world class kendo fighter. We also have our great President of the club, who makes not only my job easier but also runs the judo training,” Daniel from the club table waved a hand. “We also have a number of grad students and teachers who will help the different martial art types.”

“Any words Takashi?”

Professor Shirogane smiled, “I’ll mostly be working with the kendo students, but I hope to talk with all of you and have a lot of fun.”

“Well, let’s split up into disciplines. Kendo kids you’re with Shirogane. Judo with the president, Jujutsu with our Vice president raise your hand Nyma. Taekwondo you’re with our grad student Matt Holt. Mixed martial arts and everyone else, you’re with me.”

Even with the fifty plus students, when they split up like this, the groups were small. But Lance felt lucky. Most schools wouldn’t even have these clubs, and he would have had to find a place around campus that had kendo. It was odd for all these different styles to train together. But that’s what Lance liked.

On their online website, the original founder of the club said they didn’t have enough members for a taekwondo club, so he had just gotten his friends together and formed a lumped martial arts club. 

Lance went over to Shirogane. He, like Keith, had also brought his gear. It was a familiar weight on his back, that made him feel the tiniest bit more secure. There were ten other kids. Everyone else seemed to know each other, so Lance assumed him and Keith were the only new kids.

Lance beelined for Shirogane. “Hi. I’m Lance. Freshman.”

Lance tried not to look at his right arm. Lance knew that Takashi Shirogane had a prosthetic right arm, and he really didn’t want to do the wrong thing by starring at it. But he didn’t think the right thing to do was ignore it either. He tried to stare his idol in the eye.

Lance knew from Shirogane’s wiki page that Takashi had lost his arm in an accident when he was riding a horse in his senior year. He had given up Kendo after that. At least professionally.

Shirogane held out a hand, “Nice to meet you Lance.” Lance shook his hand, grateful for Takashi’s easy smile.

“All right everyone,” Professor Shirogane said. “I know we’re all sick of ice breakers, but let’s go around the room and say names. And as a fun fact, say you’re favorite animal.”

They went around the small group. “My names Lance. I’m a freshman. And my favorite animal is a lion—” Lance paused. Lion? Why did he say lion? His favorite animal was a shark. Always had been. He shook his head.

“I’m Keith. I like wolves…hippo’s are pretty neat too.”

“Alright. Since it seems everyone brought gear, why don’t we do a little practice sparring. I have everyone’s application and self-evaluation forms. I’m going to put you in groups based on that. These will probably be you’re sparing partners for the majority of the time, so get along everyone.”

Someone groaned. “Please don’t make us change out.”

“Yeah. It’s the first day.” 

Kendo required not only special clothing like martial arts, but you also had to wear padded armor and a face mask like fencing. 

“Fine. Only because we have thirty minutes. Face guards on though. Keith, you’re with Lance McClain.”

“Wait what why?” Lance burst out.

“Is there a problem?” The professor said raising his eyebrow.

“I mean there’s not really a problem, but…”

“You too seem to have the same amount of training, plus you’re first years. You’re a good match.”

Lance nodded and opened up his bag. He grabbed his face guard and his wooden sword.

“You ready?” Keith said. He had put his hair in a ponytail, the mask covering his face. 

“Yeah, you?” Lance said. He couldn’t hide the animosity in his voice. Both wouldn’t be able to move well with jeans on. Plus, Lance hadn’t really practiced hard with someone trained in like two years. He was still ready to beat this guy to a pulp. He swung.

“Hey not so hard. We aren’t wearing gear,” Keith said.

“What? Scared.” 

Keith laughed, an angry strangled thing. He swung at Lance hard.

They crossed swords pushing back against each other. Lance trust out with a shout. But Keith parried him. No matter how hard they went against each other, nobody was hitting any target points. But without the proper gear, they really shouldn’t have been aiming for target points anyway. They should be lightly tapping each other. But the two boys were already far gone, striking with all their might.

As the match progressed, Lance felt his strength begin to deplete. Keith was obviously better than him. Still he wasn’t about to give up.

Their swords hit each other again. Lance felt his hands shake. A weird nausea went through him. This felt familiar. Why did this feel familiar?

“Hey. Break it up you too.” Shirogane said coming between their swords. “Jeez I’ve been yelling at you for five minutes.”

Lance looked around. The other kendo students were paused starring at the two boys as they went full force at each other. 

“Sorry Takashi,” Keith said. 

“Seriously,” Shirogane said quietly. “You’re my brother. Try to set a good example, okay.” He shook his head and moved back to the front of the room to watch the other students who had resumed their matches. 

“Brother?” Lance said. 

“Yeah. What of it?” Keith said. He flipped his mask off and pulled out his ponytail. He started packing up his bag.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m done,” Keith said.

“You can’t just leave.”

“Actually, I can,” Keith grabbed his bag and left the gym.

Brother? Lance thought again. He didn’t remember Takashi Shirogane having a kendo playing brother. Takashi had been born in Hawaii but was soon put up for adoption. He was in the foster care until he was nine, when. Lance felt started. A family in Texas adopted him. Oh my gosh. That’s right. Takashi grew up on a small ranch with his adoptive parents and his younger adoptive brother in Texas!

Lance had always admired that he grew up humble on a farm like he did. But now he wasn’t so happy about the connection. He kept most of his childhood stuff private. But still how couldn’t he have connected the dots?

This was more than a set of crazy messed up coincidences.


	6. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College AU continues... Lance is still having weird Deja vu, but like maybe Keith isn't that bad after all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lance do you even know how amazing you are in so many realities?
> 
> Okay I got an outline. The story is still going to be kind of rambly, but I know exactly what's happening every chapter. I'm gonna try to get this done quickly before NYCC comes and breaks my heart.

After that first practice, the tension between Keith and Lance grew. It was mostly Lance’s fault: he instigated it. But it was obvious that Keith hated to lose, and whenever Lance started something petty, Keith joined in. 

If they were in the bathroom brushing teeth, they would go on for minutes to see who would spit first. If they were working out at the gym with the martial arts club they would lift more weight than they should. When they made eye contact in the dining hall, they would try to finish eating as fast as possible. 

They didn’t talk to one another. Lance would glare. Keith would glare back.

It was obvious that Hunk and Pidge were sick of it, but they didn’t say anything.

By the end of the second week, Lance finally felt like he was getting the hang of things. His classes were good. His teachers were interesting. He was enjoying his club activities. He had his best friends with him. Now if only Keith wasn’t there to spoil everything.

Friday night Lance had a skype call with his family. It was a whole ordeal. His grandparents in Cuba on one end, Veronica on another, and the whole McClain clan in California. They used to do this when Veronica and Luis were in school and they had kept up the tradition once a month ever since. 

“Hey everybody.”

His grandmother chirped at him in Spanish, asking if he was eating okay.

“Yes. Yes. Grandma.”

“Veronica it isn’t too early is it?” Lance’s mom said. Since graduating with a masters at Garrison Tech, Veronica had become a junior professor for the ROTC program and was training kinds in South Korea.

On the California side, Lance’s parents were on the couch squished between Lance’s siblings, who all trying to push their way into the screen to see Lance and Veronica and their grandparents. Luis’s two young kids were also there, trying to show Lance their latest masterpieces.

“Trust me mom. I am up way earlier than this. I want to hear how schools going. Who do you have for your classes?”

“Oh my gosh those are great drawings you too. I’m really having a great time V. The program is so cool. I’m stuck in a lot of boring classes right now with Spanish and Calc and stuff, but the beginning engineering class is a lot of fun.”

“Who do you have?”

“For engineering I have Wright. I think he’s a new professor. He’s pretty young.”

“Adam Wright? I graduated with him. He’s great, super sarcastic.”

“Yeah that’s him. I really like him.”

“He has a finance on the faculty too.”

“Aw cute,” Lance said. 

“What did you guys do on the farm this week?” Veronica asked

“How’s Kalt,” Lance added.

“We were doing yogurt today. It’s turning out to be a real seller this year,” Lance’s mom said. “Also, we have some news on Kaltnecker.”

Lance looked over his bed at the photos he had pinned up of the farm. He was nervous now. He didn’t want bad news.

“Lance. She’s pregnant.”

“Wait what? How?” Lance sputtered.

Rachel pipped up, “Well you see Lance when two—”

“I know how. I meant. How as in I didn’t know she was around Taz. When did that happen.” Taz was their resident bull. They didn’t normally try to get cows pregnant, unless they were on the off season or really slow. But Taz did have a nasty habit of finding a way out of his pen.

“He got out,” Marco shrugged.

“Well I guess that’s great. When is she due?”

“It’ll still be awhile. Maybe spring break?” Lance’s dad said. “I’m sorry. I know you would like to be here for that.”

“It’s okay.”

Lance and his family chatted the rest of the night. Hunk was out late with Pidge, working on some robotics project, so Lance got a solid three hour skype call before Veronica had to go to work. Lance hadn’t even realized he was homesick. He felt much better. 

***

“Okay,” Takashi said. “What’s going on with you two.”

Keith and Lance had just finished a sparring match, which had, for the third practice in a row, ended in bickering on the mat. 

Lance pulled off his mask and whipped the sweat from his brow. “Nothing.”

Keith gave Lance a glare.

Takashi gave the two a hard look. “Okay. Outside now. It’s time for a talk.”

Lance and Keith followed Takashi out of the gym into the hallway. They were still in full gear, minus their face guards. 

Keith tugged at the collar of his uniform. “Please switch me with someone else. I see this kid enough in the dorm. I don’t want to deal with him here too.”

“What are you trying to say? I’m not good enough to be you’re partner?”

“Well obviously I’ve won every match that hasn’t ended in a fight,” Keith said blunt, a cool stare on his face.

“Keith—” Takashi cut in.

“No, he started this. This weird rivalry thing,” Keith tore at his chest plate. “You know what. I’m done. I didn’t want to do this anyway.”

Takashi grabbed his brother’s arm. “We had a deal. You’re sticking with the team. I don’t know what beef you two have. But you need to work it out. You guys make great partners for each other.”

Keith and Lance glared at each other then looked away.

“I’m serious. Lance you are a great defensive player. You know exactly where your body is at every moment. And Keith. You are a fantastic aggressive player. You can find a weak point quicker than anyone. You two could really learn a lot from each other.”

Keith shrugged out of his brother’s grip. “Fine whatever. I’m fine working with this loud mouth. It’s him you have to tell to get along with me. He started it.”

“I did not. You did. At camp.”

Keith’s brows twitched. “You know what. I’ve tried to be nice to you. Sorry I don’t remember you from camp, but you need to get over yourself.” Keith walked down the hall to the locker room.”

“We aren’t done talking about this,” Takashi said after his brother.

“Jeez. What a lone wolf. Is he always running off like that?”

Takashi sighed. “Look. I know he’s hard to get along with, but would you give him a chance. He’s a really great kid if you get to know him.”

Lance softened. Ugh here he was being a complete ass-wipe in front of his hero. He felt his ears redden. “We’ve just opposites. We don’t mix well.”

Takashi chuckled. “Believe me, sometimes opposites work well. You just have to give each other a chance.” 

“I’m sorry.” Lance said looking at his feet. “I honestly don’t know why I’m always acting up around him.”

“Oh, I know why. It’s because my brother’s a little shit.”

Lance laughed. “I mean it’s a little my fault too.”

Shiro patted Lance’s shoulder. 

***

That next Wednesday Lance’s English class was cancelled, and he decided to go out on the quad and relax. The leaves were just beginning to turn, but the weather was still warm enough to sit outside. Not as hot as back home, but he could wear a sweatshirt and be comfy.

Pidge was on the couch doing homework in between rounds of Mario Kart. “If you’re going to pick up girls with that I will barf on you.”

Lance was currently holding his guitar, another one of his passions, and was set out to do just that (aka sit on a bench and look like a cool artsy sensitive guy with his guitar to pick up girls).

“It’s at least better than the kids who throw frisbees or footballs.”

“Ew,” Pidge said. “Get out.”

Lance put his guitar down, trying to make peace with Pidge. They continued to glare at him, obviously not convinced. Lance ignored the glare and made his way to the quad, ready to soak up as much sun as he could. He didn’t know what he would do once winter kicked in. He hated being cold. 

Lance sat in the grass and watched as two dudes threw around a frisbee. At least they weren’t attracting any girls either. 

But then it happened. 

The most stunning girl Lance had even seen walked across the quad, saw Lance, did a double take, and proceeded to walk right up to him. She had dark skin, blue eyes, and long flowing white hair. Lance definitely had a thing for long flowing hair.

“Lance McClain?” She said. 

Lance put on a cocky smirk. “I am Lance McClain. And who might you be?” He tried to make his voice deep and slow. His sexy voice totally worked. Not to mention he had charm for days.

Lance was just about to drop a one-liner when the girls face dipped from excited to oh god another one of these guys grimaces. “Hi. My name is Allura. Allura Wimbleton. I’m Adam Wright’s TA.”

Oh god. Had he not done well on that exam? He tried to give a normal, non-nervous laugh. “Uhh. Oh awesome. So…”

“Sorry. I’ve been meaning to talk with you for a while. And Professor Wright has spoken so highly of you. We really want you to join the NADS. It’s the National Association for Diversity in Science.”

“Oh. Cool. But me really?”

“Yeah. You have amazing SAT scores. And Professor Wright is really expecting great things from you.”

“Oh wow.” Lance couldn’t believe this. Nobody had ever called him amazing especially where grades were involved. Sure, he got all A’s and worked really really hard. But he wasn’t Pidge or Hunk. Or Takashi Shiorgane. “Um what do you guys do?”

“Well I run a lot of Black Lives Matter and more general diversity stuff on campus, so our organization teams up with a lot of those events and promotes stuff on campus. We mostly meet a couple times during the year. Promote diversity events. Talk to the board and teachers about science. We’re looking for diverse members to lead our campus.”

“That actually sounds really amazing. I would love to join. Can my friend come? His names Hunk Garret.”

“Hercules Garret?”

Lance laughed. He rarely heard people call Hunk that. “Yeah that’s him. He goes by Hunk.”

“Yeah! I’ve been wanting to talk with him too. Definitely bring him to the meeting. Let me just get your info and I’ll let you know when we’re getting together.”

“Thanks,” Lance said.

Allura waved enthusiastically and ran off to her class. Lance couldn’t help but stare stupidly at her. For about ten seconds Lance had a crush on her. Damn. She was pretty. And smart too. And nice. And she said his name like a rich person. 

And she was way out of Lance’s league. 

Yep. She was everything Lance went for. 

***

The next morning, Lance woke up with a weird feeling in his stomach. It wasn’t that heart achy first crush feel. Actually, all of those feelings were gone. He didn’t have a crush on Allura. He wondered what had changed his mind.

Maybe the dreams? He thought. 

Again, he couldn’t remember any of these dreams. All he remembered was a flicker of something familiar and a weird clenching in his gut, like he was about to cry. Dang, he must have had so many past lives. And they were all trying to tell him something. He needed to ask his mom about this.

He texted Rachel about it instead.

BESTSISTEREVER: I thought it was an alternate realities thing, she said.

LancyLance: No. This isn’t like your weird fanfic obsession. It was definitely past lives. 

BESTSISTEREVER: I mean that’s pretty fanfic-y too

LancyLance: Either way. I’ve seemed to have lived a lot of lives either in the past or in an alternate universe and they are trying to haunt me lol

BESTSISTEREVER: God you are weird

LancyLance: Miss you too :’)

 

***

It was the end of the weekend. Hunk and Pidge had tricked Lance into getting homework done early and now him and Hunk were watching the Great British Bake Off on Netflix. 

“You see that right there. Now that’s what I call excellent sugar work,” Hunk said. “And look at these guys. They’re all just amateurs but they are totally amazing.”

“Super amazing man,” Lance would never admit it, but he wasn’t entirely bored. Especially when his best bro got so excited watching the stupid baking crap.

“What up bitches,” Pidge said banging into the room. They were trailed by Matt, and surprisingly Keith. “Ready for our next session?”

“What’s he doing here?” Lance said automatically.

“Uh. I live here?” Keith said.

“I asked Keith to join the session,” Matt said. Matt was the DM for their campaign. They had started playing together two years back, after Matt got super into it one summer. He had been their DM ever since.

“Have you even played before?”

Keith didn’t reply but sat down in the open space next to Lance.

“He played with me over the summer. I had a session going with a bunch of other TA’s and even a couple of teachers. Grad student privileges.”

“Oh man I heard about that,” Hunk said. “Didn’t one guy keep dying.”

Matt laughed. “Yep. He kept coming back and playing the same character saying he was a brother lol.”

The session didn’t last long before Keith and Lance were at each other. For some reason Keith kept peeking out of the corner of his eye at Lance. Lance was wearing his favorite green jacket. It had finally cooled down enough that he could wear it. Which meant he wasn’t taking it off until spring.

But Keith kept looking at him. Lance wondered if he had something on the jacket or on his face. Maybe it smelled.

“What?” Lance said.

Keith shook his head, “Nothing. Déjà vu.”

“Excuse me?” Lance replied.

Keith cut him off. “So, you’re a furry,” Lance had just explained his character Pike.

“I’m not a furry,” Lance squeaked.

“He’s a furry,” Pidge said. “Can we continue.”

“Wait. I want to know why Keith’s a princess if he’s going to give me such a hard time about Pike.”

“Princess barbarian,” Keith countered.

“Whatever.”

This kind of bickering and banter continued throughout the session. But somewhere along the way Lance wasn’t quite so annoyed by it. They killed an extremely difficult boss and Matt wrapped up the session. It was Lance’s deep knowledge of the game and Keith’s quick improvisational skills that got them out of a tight spot in the end.

Lance turned to Keith. “You know. I actually don’t hate you right now.”

Keith laughed and looked at his watch. “This was really fun guys, but I gotta go somewhere.”

“It’s ten,” Lance said.

“Yeah. And I gotta go somewhere.” Keith ducked in his room and grabbed his coat. It was a red and white cropped jacket. Totally stupid looking Lance thought. Keith tugged up the collar and something kick in Lance’s stomach. The same nostalgic feeling he had been feeling every morning with those weird dreams he couldn’t remember.

Where had he seen that jacket before?

Lance shook his head. Weird.


	7. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Six
> 
> Summary: Keith and Lance get stuck in an elevator. Hey, you may say it’s a cliché but it actually happened in canon so…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I'm trying to get this done before NYCC and my heart gets broken, but lol, what am I doing with my life? I made an outline! This fic will be eleven (? I'm pretty sure) chapters, which means we are halfway there! Also this story is all over the place, but thanks for reading!!!

It was not Lance’s week. Nothing was going right. For starters he had a ton of homework piled up. Engineering homework was not easy task. He was always doing math or stuck in the studio. Despite not totally being at odds with Keith, his sparring had not improved, and he was now covered in bruises. Plus, he had gotten a bad grade on his Spanish essay. Spanish! He was fluent in Spanish. His mom was going to kill him. 

Lance was studying his butt off with Pidge in the library. And he was having a mini panic attack. He hadn’t taken anxiety medication in three years. He was starting to feel the all too familiar mind-numbing, heart-racing pain. It was so strong he couldn’t think. Couldn’t concentrate on the calc homework. Maybe he really should go back on his meds? He thought.

“All right over there?” Pidge said over their computer.

“No. Please help me I don’t get this at all.”

Pidge glanced at the book. “It’s calc.”

“Very astute.”

“You like calc. You’re good at calc.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.”

“Take a deep breath Lance.”

Pidge glared at Lance. Finally, he took a deep breath. He let it out. He took two more till his breathing was steady again.

“Better?” Pidge asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Jeez don’t doubt yourself you got this.”

“Thanks bud.”

“Now please stop bothering me. I’m busy.”

“What? Playing the sims.”

“Shut up.”

Two hours later Pidge was done, but Lance, now doing an essay, was still hard at work.

“Just go home without me,” Lance said putting his head on the desk. “I’m gonna be here for a while.”

“You sure? I don’t mind,” Pidge said. 

“Naw. Go back. I’ll get more done by myself without you’re snickering.”

“Kay. Good luck.” They bumped fists and Lance was left alone. 

Lance wasn’t freaking out anymore, but he still had way too much work to do. It wasn’t even midterms yet. He pulled a hand through his hair.

“Lance,” A voice said behind him.

Lance turned. It was Takashi. “Hey coach.” Lance was never sure what to call the guy. Professor? Shirogane? Takashi? Coach? Lance didn’t want to step over the wrong line. Plus, he was just too many things to Lance (hero, idol, childhood obsession).

“Getting homework done I see. What no parties? It’s a Friday night.”

Lance laughed. He had tried a few college parties. He loved the dancing, but he still wasn’t sure about the whole drinking scene. He didn’t like the lack of control he had. As much as he loved to flirt, straight up making-out with a complete stranger wasn’t his idea of fun. 

“Homework first.”

“Good for you.”

“What are you up to on a Friday night?”

“Grading papers. I just finished. My TA’s hate me right now.”

“Ha. I bet.”

“You doing okay? You look a little stressed?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just work. You know.”

“Well why don’t you come take a break and get a coffee with me.”

Lance’s brows pulled together.

“As long as you’re comfortable with that. You can totally say no.”

“Oh. Yeah. It’s totally cool.”

They went into the library’s coffee shop, Lance dragging along his books and computer. Lance wasn’t the biggest coffee fan, but it felt nice to drink something warm.

“So, do you mind if we talk about your performance? I can’t help but talk about kendo.”

“Yeah of course. No problem.” Lance looked down. “I’m still out of practice. I’m not where I want to be, but I think I am improving.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Lance. It’s only been a month. You are doing fantastic.”

Lance looked up. Takashi was being completely genuine. Maybe Lance wasn’t a complete screw up after all. “Thank you.”

“And you and Keith are getting along I see.”

Lance smiled. Keith wasn’t exactly a part of the group yet, but things were defiantly not as frigid as they had been. “Yeah.”

“Do you mind if I be a little nosy? I just want to make sure. He’s doing okay, right? He seems okay?”

“I mean we don’t talk that much, but he seems to be doing fine. He’s gone a lot from the dorm.”

Shiro smiled. “I think he really likes you three though. He talks about you guys a lot.”

“Really?” Lance was not expecting that. He thought about that for a moment. 

“So, Lance besides all the homework, how are you holding up? You liking it here?” 

“Yeah. Everyone’s nice and I really do like school. Besides the homework part.”

“Okay. I’ll let you get back to your work then,” Shiro gave Lance another sad smile. The kind of smile he used to get before he went on medication and had one of his panic attacks. “You sure you’re okay?”

Lance’s voice came out soft. “Is it that obvious that something is wrong.”

“I’m a teacher, Lance. I do seminars with this kind of stuff. But I don’ want to push you. I just want you to know I’m here if you ever need to talk.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate it,” Lance couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead he stared at the now lukewarm coffee. “I’m just trying to figure a few things out.”

“That’s okay. That’s what college is for,” Takashi rolled his eyes, “Believe me on that one.”

Lance met Takashi’s warm smile. He got up, “Thanks. Really. I’m okay now. But yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem. And Lance seriously. Try not to be too hard on yourself.”

***

Lance was running late to practice. He slung his bag over his shoulder after making sure he had all his stuff. His uniform was definitely going to need a wash soon. 

Keith was sitting in the living room pouring over some book. Jeez was that poetry? Lance wrinkled his nose. Who read poetry in earnest besides super emo people. Lance looked Keith up and down. He had on ripped black jeans and a tight black t-shirt. Never mind Lance thought. He is emo.

“We’re going to be late,” Lance said walking around the couch to face Keith.

“I’m not going tonight,” Keith said. 

“Who am I going to spare with?”

“Spare with Anthony.”

“I don’t like sparing with him. Plus, he already has a partner. Come on you can’t ditch me.”

Keith turned a page in his book, “I didn’t think you liked practice with me around.”

“Oh, come on Keith. Don’t make me go alone.” Lance put his hand on the book and gently nudged it down, forcing Keith to look in his eyes. If Lance had one thing going for him it was his beautiful blue eyes. And he was going to work the puppy dog look for all its worth. “Please.”

Keith sighed. “Do you really want me to kick your ass that bad?”

“No. But it’s not fair to just not come to practice. Especially when others are relying on you.”

Keith got up. “Just give me a second.” 

Keith went to his room and came back a few minutes later in sweatpants and a hoodie, his bag on his shoulder. 

Lance was already cutting it close when he was planning on leaving, so by the time Keith was ready and they were heading out the door, they were already fifteen minutes late.

When they got to the gym, Lance pushed the elevator button over and over, willing the old clunker to get there faster. 

“We should just take the stairs, it’s only three stories up.”

“Ugh, no. Look the elevator’s already here so just get in.”

Keith glared, but got in the elevator. “This thing looks like it’s on its last legs.”

“I’ve used it every time. It’s fine,” Lance snapped back.

They made it up a half a floor before the thing gave out with a pathetic last moan. 

Lance kicked the wall, “Stupid thing.”

“This is what we get for not taking the stairs,” Keith said. 

“Well. It could be—,” Lance squeaked. Then the lights go out. “Worse,” he groaned. Lance grabbed his phone from his pocket. Dead. “Uh Keith you have your phone, right?”

“No. I never bring it to practice.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t need it.”

“Jeez. Why can’t you just be a normal human and carry your phone.”

“Well what about you?” Keith retorted.

“It’s dead.”

Keith groaned. In the dim light Lance could see Keith feeling at the wall. 

“What are you doing?”

“I’m looking for the emergency button. It will call the fire department.”

A few seconds later a friendly voice came over a speaker. The woman, from the campus police, tells them to be patient and they’ll get someone down to them soon. “It may take a little while to get you out, but help is on the way.”

Ten minutes go by. Lance sits on the floor, Keith eventually gives up and slumps across from him. 

Lance spoke first. “I guess the universe really wants us together huh?”

Keith scoffs. “I don’t know about that.”

“Seriously though. What are the odds that someone I know from space camp just happens to go to the same school as mem and happens to be my roommate and happens to be in the same club, and happens to be related to Takashi Shirogane.”

“Well. You obviously came here because you’re obsessed with my brother—”

“I did not.”

“I came because of the astronomy program. There really aren’t that many accredited, big astronomy programs you know.”

“Oh. I guess that’s true.”

Lance looked away, not that he could really see Keith in the dark. His stomach let out a low growl. He felt his ears redden. He didn’t have time for dinner before practice. Not with all his homework.

“I’m so hungry,” Keith said softly. “I could go for a steak.”

“Ew,” lance said.

“What?” Keith said indigent. 

“I’m a vegetarian,”

“Wait what really? But you own a dairy farm.”

“Which is exactly why I don’t eat meat jeez.”

“We don’t eat everything on the farm,” Keith said. “I miss my animals. The chickens. The dogs. My horse.”

Lance tried to picture Keith on a horse. He couldn’t imagine the mullet kid wearing a cowboy hat. Emo cowboy did not make sense in his mind.

A pause.

“All I want is my mom’s ice cream. We make it from scratch. Only special occasions. It’s the best thing on the planet.” Maybe it was the dark. Maybe it was that weird déjà vu feeling again, but Lance couldn’t shut his blabber hole, and now here he was telling his whole life story to Keith. 

“It sounds great,” Keith said.

“If we ever get out of here,” Lance laughed “I’ll bring you some.”

“That’s okay. I don’t like ice cream.”

“Jeez it won’t kill you. I promise it’s good,” Lance said. 

“No. I mean. I’m lactose intolerant. I actually can’t eat it.”

“Oh. So, it could actually kill you.”

Lance could practically hear Keith roll his eyes. “Not kill. More like serious constipation.”

“Wow. We really are opposites aren’t we.”

“I guess.” Keith said. 

“I guess we just aren’t meant be friends,” Lance continued jokingly.

Lance could see Keith’s silhouette stiffen. “Why do you hate me so much. What exactly did I do to you at space camp?”

Lance brought his knees to his chest. “Nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. You’re holding a grudge. After like what, five years?”

“Well fine then. For starters you didn’t know my name. You kept calling me Taylor.”

“Taylor?”

“Yeah. And you were just super cool and amazing at everything. No matter how hard I tried. You know those simulation things? You were such a natural and I had teachers yelling at me every second of the day.”

“Oh. I remember you now,” Keith said brightly. “Wow you got really tall. Good for you buddy. You used to be the smallest one in the class.”

“That’s another reason I didn’t like you. You were always patronizing me. And then you punched that James kid for calling Takashi those names. And I…” Lance stopped. He didn’t want to admit to this petty scene. He felt stupid now.

“And you came to tell me it was cool sticking up for Takashi. And I called Takashi a moron.”

“You totally crushed me! I thought you were super cool, but then you totally shit all over my hero. I thought you were an anti. I didn’t realize he was your brother.”

“Dude you gotta get over this man-crush. My brother seriously is just an idiot.”

“I don’t have a man-crush on him.”

Keith grunted obviously frustrated. “You obviously do. I see the way you look at him during practice. Like he’s the coolest person in the world. Ya. He’s really cool. Don’t you think I know that? But god I hate his stupid fans. He’s really cool, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t human. That he isn’t an idiot AND that doesn’t’ makes mistakes.” Keith said all this in a rush. 

“Woah. You okay dude.” Lance couldn’t believe this. Keith was talking about something so personal. But it was also something that lance got. He was the youngest of five. He knew what it was like to be in the shadows.

“Sorry. I don’t know where that came from,” Keith said with a sigh. “God. Why did I tell you that?”

“Dude. I get it. My siblings. Hell, Hunk and Pidge. They are all so amazing and smart. And a lot of the time I thought I good enough.”

“Sorry.” Keith said again shaking his head, “I’m not jealous of my brother. I was for a while. But not anymore.” Lance thought he could glimpse a smile through the dark. “I guess old grudges die hard huh?”

“Yeah,” Lance said with a smile. “But I do get it. With my sister getting her masters here, sometimes I wonder if I just got in because of her.”

“You just got to prove them wrong. That’s what I tell myself. Everyone thinks I’m just here because of Takashi, so I just ignore them.”

“I guess I’m trying to do that too,” Lance said. Lance was very glad this conversation was happening in the dark. He didn’t think he could stomach telling Keith all this if Keith could stare at him with that intense look of his.

For a while both boys looked at the floor, obviously embarrassed they had said so much to someone they didn’t completely trust. “Why are you still holding a grudge?” 

“What,” Lance said trying to drag his mind from his thoughts.

“You know I’m related to Shiro now, and that I don’t actually hate him. So why hold the grudge?”

Lance scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know. You came in here pretending you were so much cooler than us. Better than us. You never wanted to hang out. And you always came back super late. Like you were up to something.”

“I do not think I’m better than you guys. And for the record, I was avoiding the dorm, because I thought you hated me. I didn’t think you guys wanted me around.”

“I mean maybe at first. But after the D and D game you just ditched. I thought…”

“I was going to see my dog. That’s where I go.”

“Your dog?”

“Yeah. Takashi and Adam, that’s my brother’s fiancée, they have my dog at their apartment. Kosmo. I wanted to make him a service dog for like anxiety and stuff, but I didn’t want to go through the hassle. As a deal, Takashi takes care of Kosmo and I go over and see him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah oh.”

“Look Keith I’m—”

The elevator creaked back on and they were blinded by light. They stood up silently as the doors opened. The whole kendo club, along with a couple firemen and some of the campus police stood in front of them.

“You two alright?” Shiro asked.

“Yeah. I’m guessing practice is over,” Lance said.

“You guys were in there for forty-five minutes. Why didn’t you call?”

“No phone,” Keith said simply. He walked out the door, hands in his hoody pockets. 

“Keith wait,” Lance said. He pushed past the group of curious onlookers. Keith was already out the door. Lance sprinted after him down the path already scattered with leaves. He grabbed Keith’s arm.

“What?” Keith said half turning.

“I just wanted to say,” Lance scratched the back of his head again. God he couldn’t stop himself. It was his tick. He let go of Keith’s arm and looked away. “I’m sorry. For making you feel unwelcome. We like you. You don’t have to avoid the dorm.”

“Okay,” Keith said, a smile lighting his face.

***

“Aw. That’s so cute. You guys bonded,” Pidge said. Lance was back in the dorm with Hunk and Pidge, currently halfway through a Star Wars marathon. 

“We did not bond,” Lance said using air quotes. “We just got stuck in an elevator.”

“You had a bonding moment,” Hunk said.

“No. I’m telling you. We just weren’t arguing for two minutes.”

“Bro bonding,” the two said in a sing song voice. 

Lance stood up and crossed his arms, clicking off the tv. “You know what? Never mind. It didn’t happen. Don’t remember it.”

Hunk and Pidge were smirking at Lance with so much smugness that he knew something was up. He turned.

And there was Keith. Halfway in the door. A scowl on his face. Yeah, he had heard everything. And had obviously heard it all out of context and took it the wrong way. Keith walked back out the door, slamming it behind him,

“I didn’t mean it Keith,” Lance yelled after him. He turned to his two friends. “You know. Sometimes I really hate you guys.”

The two just continued to smirk at Lance.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More bonding, a Halloween party, and mixed emotions run rapid as Lance tries to tackle midterms at Garrison Tech University.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I feel like the pacing is off and this is all happening really fast, probably because I’m writing this a break neck speed, but here you go. I’m trying to make this as similar to canon plot as I can, but I'm also trying to be true to actual reality and how things would happen in real life, which means this story is boring af sorry :( But thanks for reading and sticking with me!

Over the past couple weeks, Keith tentatively joined the group. He watched movies with them. He ate with them. He did homework with them. Lance hoped this meant he wasn’t too mad about the whole ‘bonding moment didn’t happen’ thing.

If Lance was being honest with himself, he just wasn’t ready to apologize, and he certainly wasn’t ready to discuss all that personal junk that had gone down in the elevator. 

After practicing that week, Keith and Lance walked back together. The October air was chill, but they were still warm from their workout. 

“Can I meet your dog?” Lance blurted out.

Keith looked at Lance from the corner of his eye, “Right now?”

“I mean. You’re going there aren’t you? You always go after practice.”

“I guess you can come. Have you eaten yet?”

“I’ve snacked. But I haven’t had like dinner dinner.” Practice was squashed in the middle of the evening from four to eight, making it difficult to eat dinner.

“Okay. Good.”

Lance should have known he was going to have to climb back on Keith’s bike. Keith said his brother wasn’t far from campus, but the apartment was far enough that Lance had to get back on the metal death trap.

Keith handed him the spare helmet. They had dropped off their bags in the dorm room, but Lance was now regretting not getting a thicker jacket when he was there. 

“You sure this thing can hold both of us?”

“You’ve already ridden on it.”

Keith straddled the bike and looked expectantly at Lance. With a sigh, he clambered on.

“Hold on,” Keith said gruffly.

For a split-second Lance hesitated. Then in one quick moment, like ripping off a band-aid, he clamped his arms around Keith’s waist. Keith sucked in a breath but didn’t say anything. In fact, they didn’t say anything the whole ride. 

Heat seemed to radiate off Keith’s back, and Lance had to do everything in his power not to cling to that warmth.

When they got to the apartment complex, neither said a word. Lance let Keith walk a little bit ahead of him. 

Keith opened the door, and they were met with warmth and the delicious smell of butter and herbs. They must have gotten there before Takashi, because instead of him, there was another man standing in the kitchen. Adam Wright. Lance’s engineering professor. Something Veronica said clicked into place. Takashi was engaged to Adam Wright.

“I’m home,” Keith said. 

“Hey,” Adam said from the small kitchen. “Takashi should be back any moment. I’m almost done here. Hello Lance.” He said with a bright smile.

Lance smiled sheepishly. Seeing teachers out of class, much less in their home, was weird. “I hope I’m not intruding.”

“No. The more the merrier. I hope you’re hungry. I think I made too much pasta.” 

“Uh. That’s sounds great. Professor.”

Adam waved his hand as if to shoe the title away. “Keith set the table.” 

Suddenly a giant husky bounded into the room, practically pouncing on Keith. Keith gave the dog a good rub down before moving to the dinner table. Lance, not sure what to do himself, carefully approached the dog.

The dog hesitated at first. 

Lance bent down, “Kosmo,” he whispered. The dog wagged his tail and bounced into Lance’s arms. Lance hugged the dog. His heart soared, but then sank. He remembered all his animals at home. But it wasn’t just the animals he missed. He missed hugging something like this. Hunk would cuddle with Lance a little, but there was nothing like embracing a dog or cat or family member. 

Lance remained in the doorway, gently stroking his new friends’ fur, until the door opened behind him. Kosmo bounced up to greet the new person. 

Lance got out of the way, so Takashi could get inside. “Lance. I’m so glad you could join us.” Takashi turned to Keith, “It’s so nice that Keith has a friend to bring home.”

Lance tried not to smile awkwardly as Shiro exchanged a knowing, almost parent-like smile with Adam. 

“He’s just here for the dog,” Keith said dead-pan.

“It’s true, I am,” Lance said jokingly. “And good food of course.”

“Well Adam is the best,” Takashi said walking over to his fiancée and planting a kiss on his cheek. Keith rolled his eyes.

In that moment it all became real to Lance.

Lance had no problem with queer people. He knew Takashi Shirogane was gay. Lance looked up to him; he loved that Takashi was so open about it. Veronica, his sister had been out for forever, and Pidge was ace non-binary. But it wasn’t something Lance was comfortable with. He didn’t know how to navigate it. He felt awkward.

Keith looked at Lance hard. Could he tell this made him nervous?

“Can I wash my hands?” Lance said.

“Dog slobber?” Keith said. Lance nodded.

“Down the hall.”

Lance went down the hall, and very soon realized that Keith was not good with directions. 

He touched a doorknob. 

“That’s my room,” A voice said behind him. Keith. He was closer then Lance wanted him. 

He stepped out of the way. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Wait. Why do you have a room?”

“I lived here for a little while last year. When I was figuring some stuff out.”

“Why don’t you live here now then?”

“Well. All freshmen have to live in the dorms. Mandatory,” Keith opened the door, stripping off his jacket and placing it on the bed. 

“Yeah, but you could have just lived her in secret or something.”

“Ugh. No. The lovely dovey-couple out there? Yeah, they get annoying.” Keith fluttered his lashes “‘no you’re pretty, no you are,’ yeah. No thanks.”

Lance snorted and looked around the room. From the few times Pidge allowed him in their room, he realized Keith wasn’t much of a ‘stuff’ person. Here, there were a few photos, mostly of cows and his family, a ‘I Want to Believe’ poster, and a few books. Besides that, it was pretty bare. Not like Lance and Hunk’s room that was over stuffed with memento’s and things from home.

“What?” Keith said subconsciously as Lance surveyed the room.

“Nothing. I’m just trying to figure you out,” Lance said with a smirk.

“There isn’t much to figure out.”

“I wonder about that.”

“Just because I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve like some people do,” Keith said with a pointed look at Lance, “doesn’t mean there’s that much to me. Come on. Food’s probably done.”

The four sat down to Adam’s pasta and salad. It was good. It was buttery and delicious and so much better than anything he had been eating in the dining hall for the past month now.

“Are you doing anything for Halloween?” Takashi asked. Adam was holding Takashi’s hand begrudgingly on the table. Adam had tried to let go so he could cut something, but Takashi seemed unwilling to give the hand up. Adam gave Takashi a mild stink eye but said nothing.

“Uh yeah. I think I’ve convinced the gang to go to a party. I mean they kind of suck, but you also kind of have to. College experience,” Lance gave Keith a cruel smile, “Actually the only one I can’t agree to go is Keith here.”

Keith flicked his eyes irritated at Lance, knowing exactly where this was going. Lance snuck Kosmo, who was sitting at his feet, part of his breadstick. The dog licked his buttery fingers.

“You should go Keith. Get some college experience.” 

“You want me to get drunk and have a miserable time?”

“I want you to get out and hang out with people your own age,” Takashi said, total older brother voice on. 

Lance snickered as Keith sighed dramatically. 

“You’ll be with your friends. It won’t be that bad,” Adam said.

“Okay mom.”

“Speaking of mom. You need to call her. And dad.”

“Don’t they get updates from you,” Keith said.

“It’s not the same. They want to hear from you.”

“Fine.”

Lance was floored. Keith was always acting tough and nonchalant, but here, he completely changed into the younger, whiny brother. It was kind of cute and totally unexpected.

After dinner, Keith got up getting ready to leave. 

“Shouldn’t we help clean up,” Lance shot at Keith under his breath. 

“Look at them,” Lance turned seeing two men he looked up to completely and utterly and stupidly in love. Shiro poked Adam’s face with a mess of bubbles from the sink. “I want to leave before they get more gross. Plus, it’s like already ten.”

Adam came over to see them off, leaving Takashi with the dishes. “You know your sister is really proud of you,” Adam said as he gave Lance a firm hand shake. 

“Yeah. I know.”

Adam gave him another pat on the back, and the two boys walked back to the bike. 

Keith didn’t get on.

Keith faced away from Lance, looking down. “I saw how you looked at them.”

Lance stopped. “What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. You were uncomfortable. With them. Because of them.” Keith’s hand curled into a fist.

Lance shifted. He didn’t know what to say. He’d seen his sister kiss girls. He’d seen boys kiss other boys at camp. It didn’t gross him out. But he couldn’t quite place why it made him so fidgety.

Keith sighed. “I want to tell you this right now. I’m gay.” He paused letting it sink in. “And if that’s not something you understand or believe in. If it’s not ‘okay.’ Then we can’t be friends got it?”

“I don’t really care who you kiss Keith.” Lance said this as warmly as he possibly could, trying desperately to assure him that he really didn’t have a problem with who Keith was.

Keith looked at him skeptically.

“I’m serious Keith. Your sexuality is who you are. It doesn’t change what I think about you.”

Now it was Keith’s turn to shift awkwardly. “Thanks,” he said looking down.

“Yeah.”

It was another awkward bike ride home.

Lance couldn’t sleep that night. Which wasn’t a major surprise. He hadn’t been able to sleep for a while now. He didn’t know if it was because he was homesick or if it was the dreams or what. 

He stared at the ceiling. Now thinking back on the dinner, he was happy, seeing two of his role models like that. It made him giddy. But Keith telling him his sexuality? Oh god he had handled that all wrong. He should have said something like “thank you for sharing” or just something. 

Lance turned on his side facing the wall. He didn’t know why Keith sexuality was bothering him so much.

If Lance was being completely honest with himself, there was a time, a small fraction of a second, he thought he was gay. There was Takashi Shirogane, which yes, deep in Lance’s heart, he admitted was a crush. But that was when he was twelve. 

But then in high school. There had been this boy. A really cute boy.

At first Lance thought all boys thought each other were attractive, but because of social norms they kept it to themselves. Later he realized this wasn’t really true. That not everyone thought like this. 

It was sophomore year, just as Lance started having his anxiety issues. The kid and him had grown closer and closer, until one day after a movie, Lance found himself leaning in. And the other guy was leaning in too, but then Lance pulled back. And they never talked about it again.

That wasn’t what boys did. Lance liked girls. Girls were cute and nice and just better in every way. He wasn’t gay. 

And then Lance had gotten a panic attack that spiraled so out of control that he was on anxiety medication for the next two years. He always thought that it was from stress and school. But maybe it wasn’t?

Lance looked up at the ceiling. It was the cheap kind, pattered with dots. God Lance needed some action. That was it. He just needed to kiss someone at that Halloween party. Get over whatever this was.

***

Lance wasn’t the only one freaking out about school. Hunk was also freaking out and fussing over his work load. Lance watched as his best friend looked at his essay, wrung his hands through his hair, sighed and then repeated the cycle.

“Okay. Into the kitchen,” Lance said.

“But—”

“No butts. You still have a couple days to finish that right? No reason to get worked up about it.” 

As soon as Lance got Hunk into the kitchen, he started to calm down. 

“Can we make something lactose free?” Lance asked.

“Yeah but why?”

“Just because,” Lance said. 

They decided to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Or that’s how it started out, until Hunk kept making them more and more complicated. Lance eventually just sat down and watched him work. 

“So—” Lance started. That’s all Lance had to say to get Hunk talking. When something was bothering him, he didn’t hide it.

“Ugh. I just didn’t think it would be this hard. Or this busy. You know. That and being away from my family for so long. They just feel so far away.”

“I get it. Believe me,” Lance did get it. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he had cried a few times in the shower. He missed hugging his mom and the cuddles, and just generally being touchy with his family. Everything felt weird and stilted here. Sure, Hunk and Pidge were his friends and they would hug him and be with him, but it wasn’t the same. 

Lance let Hunk prattle on about his home and all the things he missed and what was hard for him. By the time the cookies were done, he was his old smilingly self.

“So Allura?” Hunk said.

“Yeah. What about her.”

“Dude you were totally staring at her at the meeting this week.”

“Uh.”

“You were. I swear. I even got a snap of it.”

Lance shifted away. “I mean she’s gorgeous, but I don’t know. I just don’t feel that into her you feel? Like something is telling me it will end badly.”

“Stop. Have some confidence. You’re a suave guy.”

Lance felt his ego kick in. He cupped his chin. “I’m pretty much an ace at romance. But you know something in my gut is just telling me no. You know? Like there are plenty of fish in the sea.”

Hunk just rolled his eyes, obviously regretting kicking Lance’s ego into high gear.

“Wait, did I tell you I went to Professor Wright’s apartment?”

“What? No! Why?” Hunk said ready for the drama. He was a bigger gossiper then Lance was.

“Well I went with Keith to see his dog, and Takashi, his brother, is engaged to Professor Wright.”

“Oh wow!”

“Yeah. Honestly, they are too cute. Like I can’t look at Shirogane or Professor Wright the same way every again. They were total dorks.”

“I want to go next time.”

An odd feeling settled in Lance’s chest. Going to the apartment felt private somehow. Lance shook his head. That was a stupid thought. “Of course. You have to meet Kosmo. I want to steal him.”

The two laughed and continued to eat their cookies. 

***

Midterms were right around the corner, and Lance was not feeling good about it. The homework kept piling up. His panic attacks were slowly increasing, and on top of that he wasn’t sleeping well because of the dreams. He kept waking up in a panic in the middle of the night with no way to get back to sleep. 

With midterms finally finished, he still couldn’t relax. If anything, the homework got worse in preparation for Thanksgiving. The one thing Lance had to look forward to was Halloween, and finally getting his friends out on the town.

But with all the midterm stuff, they didn’t end up having time to go Halloween shopping and the costumes were pitiful. Lance was in a Hawaiian shirt a lei, which Pidge was referring to as the douchebag costume. Pidge had put on cat ears and called it a day. And Hunk was wearing a very subtle cosplay of one of his favorite tv shows. You couldn’t even tell he was dressed up if you didn’t know the show. Keith was just wearing street clothes, a leather jacket, red shirt and black jeans.

“Oh, come on guys. I know we can do better than this.”

“You’re lucky we’re going out at all,” Pidge said. Lance sighed and got the group off the couch before they turned on the tv and resigned to stay there the whole night.

Because Lance and Hunk were in the engineering department, they decided to go to the engineering frat house party, which was known not only for its crazy parties, but also for only allowing engineering students and their guests to attend. So basically, it was a rite of passage to get completely wasted in front of your friends and peers if you were an engineering student. 

Unfortunately, as soon as they got there, Lance was left alone. Hunk was introducing Pidge to a bunch of their classmates, and Keith had disappeared. 

Lance leaned against a wall waiting for someone to come talk to him. Normally he was at the center of the party, getting all the attention, but he just wasn’t feeling it tonight. Red and blue lights flashed. He watched as couples danced in the half dark to the heavy bass. 

“Come here often?” Someone said. An older guy stood across from Lance, his posture slumped, his face a wide grin. He was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt. Maybe Pidge was onto something here.

“I mean. I’m an engineering student so…”

“Oh. I don’t recognize you. Freshmen?” The guy said. He leaned forward. Putting his arms on the wall. Lance knew this move. He had used this move. Holy crow. Lance thought, this guy is using the moves on me. This guy is flirty with me. 

At first Lance started to panic. But as the guy chatted at him, he realized. He didn’t hate it. He didn’t hate it at all. The guy himself was a douchebag sure, but the actual flirting. He didn’t hate it. 

So, he flirted back.

The guy leaned in closer, “How about a drink huh?” 

Lance’s mind instantly raced to freshmen orientation where they had warned against date rape and that kind of thing. He gave the guy an easy smile. “That’s okay. I’m gonna get one later.”

Instead of shrugging it off the guy pushed forward. “No, I insist. I know the guy running the bar so I can get you a deal.”

“No. I’m fine.” Lance said firmly.

The guy leaned in closer. Now, Lance was not feeling comfortable. He stiffened. Lance gently pushed the guy back, “Dude. I’m good.”

The guy grabbed Lance’s chin

Lance was by no means small. He could defend himself. He had taken martial arts for years. He looked the guy up and down, trying to decide the best way to push this guy aside without making a huge scene.

Then a hand closed on the guys shoulder pulling him away from Lance.

“You okay?” Keith said looking at Lance.

“Who are you?” The guy said to Keith.

Keith opened his mouth. Lance knew Keith was about to say something very stupid that would probably get them punched in the face. He scooched over to Keith, snaking an arm around his waist. “He’s my boyfriend.”

Keith clamped his mouth shut but didn’t say anything. The guy made an irritated noise.

“Well it was nice talking to you,” Lance said steering Keith out of the room. Lance opened the back door and finally let go of Keith. The backyard was mostly empty, a few couples talking quietly here and there.

“What was that?” Keith said.

“You were about to say something stupid that was going to get us in trouble, so I avoided it.” Lance turned to Keith. 

He was looking at his shoes, all black converse. He toed the ground, pushing up dirt. “Did you say that because I’m gay.”

“What? No. I said it because it was the first thing I thought of.”

“Are you making fun of me,” Keith bit back.

“No. God. I swear I’m not,” Lance took a deep breath. “Look. I just did the first thing I thought of okay. I get that from your perspective it doesn’t look the best. But I swear I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Keith nodded. “What were you doing with him anyway?”

“Uh. Talking.”

“It didn’t look like just talking.”

“Why do you say that.”

“I mean he obviously got the wrong idea. So…”

Lance shrugged. “I guess I flirted back a little. But yeah. He was totally being aggressive for no reason.” Lance couldn’t look at Keith. Then he got an idea. “Do you want to get out of here.”

“Yes. Thank god.”

The two walked back through the house. Lance grabbed two unopened beers. Keith gave him a look but shrugged. It turned out Hunk and Pidge were at the center of a group of what Lance would call nerds, laughing about quantum physics or something equally nerdy. Lance told them Keith and him were heading out, and to Lance’s surprise, they both decided to stay.

“So where are we going?” Keith said. They had walked away from the parties and frat houses; the streets were already quiet and empty of tricker-treaters. It wasn’t even nine yet.

“I want to show you something really cool. I think you’ll like it.”

Frat row was in-between main campus and north campus, so it only took them about ten minutes to get to the engineering building. 

“Uh…” Keith said.

“Come on,” Lance said playfully. Behind the engineering building was a small hill, an old stone building sitting on top. “It’s the old astronomy building. They don’t use it anymore. But it’s pretty cool.”

Lance began to fiddle with the locks.

“Are we supposed to be in here?”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Lance laughed. When Keith didn’t say anything he continued, “When I’m feeling down and stuff I hang out in here. Nobody comes in. The janitor caught me once. He didn’t really seem to care.” 

Lance opened the lock and stepped inside. The floor was dusty. Abandoned desks scattered the room. Lance climbed up to the observation platform, where an old telescope station stood empty. There was large opening in the ceiling, like a window, that the telescope would look out from. Vines and rot clung around the opening. The stars glittering down.

“The roof looks like it could collapse.”

“Oh, come on and just say you think this place is cool,” Lance said stretching his arms out. Lance put his empty beer down and laid on the platform underneath the window, his hands tucked under his head.

With a sigh Keith stretched out next to him. “Yeah it’s cool.”

Lance looked at Keith.

“What,” Keith said.

“You seem to know what you’re looking at.”

“I hope so. I’m an astronomy major.”

Lance laughed. 

“Look. You see the little dipper?” Keith asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Go to the right and up a tiny bit. That’s the big dipper.”

“Okay I see it.”

Keith traced a pattern. “Right above that is Leo. There’s like a small triangle and a line and a hook thing.”

“I don’t see that.”

Keith tried again to point out the constellation. It took some time, but Lance finally managed to find it.

“Did you really spend a whole year out here doing this kind of stuff.”

“Yeah.”

“Wasn’t it lonely?”

“I mean. My mom did it with me for the first month. I had Kosmo. But yeah. After a while I kind of felt lost. Which is funny because I was literally following the stars.”

“I miss home.”

“I do and I don’t. Like I miss the animals and the desert and my parents. But also, I feel like I’m in a good place now.” 

“I get that. I really like it here. But yeah. I’m not really used to being on my own.”

They stared at the sky. Lance could feel the cold moving in. He subconsciously moved closer to Keith. This felt comfortable. This felt easy. This felt so right.

“Keith. Are we friends?”

Keith turned. “I don’t know,” He said bluntly. “I haven’t had that many to be honest.”

“I want to be your friend.” Lance meant it. He liked Keith. He really liked Keith. Something inside him felt at peace when he was with him.

“I want to be your friend too. So, I guess we are.”

“Look. I know we don’t always get along. I know I haven’t really known you for that long,” Lance didn’t know if it was the beer or what, but he began to ramble. “But I honestly feel this connection with you that I’ve never felt with anyone else. Like the universe wants me to be by your side. To be your friend.”

Keith didn’t say anything. He just looked at Lance. 

Lance didn’t know what he was doing. He reached on hand out, dragging hair out of Keith’s face. He left his hand on Keith’s neck, his touch cold on Keith’s warm skin. Lance leaned in and then Keith was leaning in.

Something in Lance flashed warning signals. Lance’s thoughts began to spiral. 

Lance gave a half laugh and rolled over facing away from Keith. 

Keith sighed and got up. Lance heard the door slam shut.

Lance covered his eyes with his arms. It didn’t stop the tears.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for some angst, and hopefully thoughtful discussion!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I stole a section in here from another of my fic. Sorry but it’s just too good to put anything else here.

Lance left the astronomy building twenty minutes later. Keith wasn’t at home. Of course, he wasn’t. But Pidge was back.

“Lance you missed it. Hunk it totally hitting it off with this girl.”

“What time is it?” Lance said. As usual his phone was dead.

“About eleven.”

“Pidge I need to go home.”

“What are you saying.” Pidge was sitting on the couch but promptly got up and walked towards Lance.

Lance choked on his words. “I just. I can’t do this. I need to go home.”

“Thanksgiving’s really soon Lance.”

“I’m not going back for Thanksgiving Pidge,” Lance snapped. “We can’t afford it.” Lance looked at Pidges broken face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t. I just. I need to go home. I just need to get out of here.”

“Wait one second.” Pidge furiously typed onto their phone, then hit the call button. “Hey Matt. Did you drink tonight? I need to go home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” Pidge turned to Lance. “Matt will be here in ten.”

“But there aren’t any flights now.”

“You’re not going home. We’re going to my house. It’s Friday. We’ll spend the weekend there. We’ll relax. You will breath and we will work this out together okay?”

Lance turned away unwilling to let Pidge see him cry. “Okay.”

Lance needed the weekend away. Pidge could see how stressed out he was and they let him have his way, which was very unusual. They listened to Lance’s music in the car, they watch Lance’s favorite shows and movies, they ate his favorite food, and just hung out like two slobs.

“I just got off the phone with my mom,” Lance said on that Sunday a couple hours before they went back. “Veronica said she can help pay for my ticket for Thanksgiving.”

“That’s great.”

“Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Lance. Do not get mushy on me,” they scratched the back of their head. “But like. You’re my best friend. Hunk and you are my people. I would do anything for you guys.”

“Still. Thank you.”

Pidge sighed. “Do you want to talk what this is about? What’s really going on Lance?”

“I’m not ready. Soon. Okay. I need to figure a few things out.”

Pidge didn’t press him further.

***

Lance wasn’t surprised that Keith was avoiding him. Keith had every reason to be mad at him. But it was making it difficult to apologize. They had only known each other for two months, maybe they really weren’t meant to be friends Lance thought.

Lance was surprised when Keith didn’t show up to Kendo practice. Takashi didn’t seem upset about it either, which meant Takashi knew Keith wasn’t going. Which meant Keith had told his brother why he didn’t want to go. Which meant he had probably talked about Lance. Which was not making Lance feel any better.

“I’ll be sparring with you today Lance,” Takashi said on Thursday.

“Where’s Keith?”

“He’s busy. He’ll be back.”

“I hope so,” Lance pulled down his mask. “He’s okay right? We haven’t seen him,” he added in a rush.

“Yeah, Keith’s just busy,” Takashi said with an easy smile. Oh yes, definitely he knew something.

Halfway through the match, it was clear Lance’s head wasn’t in the game. He didn’t hit Takashi a single time. “Let’s take a breather.”

Lance put down his mask and followed Takashi to the water fountain, which was in the hallway. 

“Can I ask you something.” 

“Sure,” Takashi said bending down to take a drink from the fountain.

“How did you knew you liked boys?” Lance said.

Takashi sputtered for a moment eyes wide. He coughed pounding his chest.

“Sorry,” Lance said.

“No. It’s fine. Those just weren’t the words I expected to come from your mouth.” Takashi stood up calmly looking Lance in the eye, “So what’s up.”

Lance looked away. He couldn’t believe he was asking this. “I thought that these feelings would go away. But they've been there for my whole life. And they aren't going away."

Takashi nodded.

"I've always looked up to you." Lance continued, "You were always so strong. And you were always yourself. You never let anyone change you or tone down who you were."

"It was hard to get to that point, Lance." Takashi smiled meeting Lance's blue eyes. "It took a lot of time and support to get there."

Lance took a deep breath. "I like girls. But...I think I might like boys too." Lance said. He put his hands through his hair. 

"It's okay. It’s confusing.," Takashi said putting a hand on Lance’s back.

"But it's not," Lance said "I like girls. I've always liked girls."

"Lance." 

"I'm sorry. I know you have Adam. And here I am being all homophobic. But I'm so confused."

"It's okay to be confused. And it's okay to like boys."

Lance nodded, but he just looked numb like he was still trying to understand.

"You don't have to decide between boys and girls, you can like both,” Takashi said.

"I can? Even though I haven’t really liked boys till now?"

Takashi smiled, "There's no book to you. There are no rules on how your sexuality works. There's no rules on being gay or bisexual or queer."

Lance nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

“Thank you for sharing this with me. I know it’s easy. But I’m glad you came to me. Do you feel better?”

“A little.”

“It’s okay. You can take your time.”

Lance looked up. Takashi had so many emotions in his dark eyes. Worry, concern, but happiness too. Most importantly Lance could see pride. Takashi was proud of Lance.

***

The next few weeks before Thanksgiving passed in a blur. Keith never came back to kendo practice and was hardly around the dorm. But Lance really didn’t have time to worry about that stuff. Before he knew it, he was on the five-hour flight back to California.

Matt must have told Veronica about his freak-out, who then promptly told their parents, because both his mom and dad were picking him up from the airport. The drive was about two hours from the San Jose airport. 

“Mom. Dad,” Lance said reaching to the front of the car to turn down the speaker. “Can we talk?”

“We have something to say too,” his mom said turning around in the seat to touch Lance’s hand. They were just hugging in the airport, but her gentle touch still didn’t feel real. 

“You go first,” Lance said.

“We think you should go back on your medication,”

“But.”

“We have an appointment set up with Dr. Harris for tomorrow. I know you don’t like the strong stuff, so we’ll try to figure something out that works for you okay?”

“Yeah.”  
“We also go in contact with the student services. We want you to meet with their school counselor. Just as a checkup next year okay?”

Lance nodded his head. He wasn’t expecting this; he didn’t know if he really wanted it, but he knew it was probably the best plan for now. His parents just wanted to look out for him.

“You know I swear the cows miss you. They keep looking for you around the field.” His dad said trying to break up the conversation. He knew Lance didn’t like this kind of talk. “So, what do you need to talk about?”

“Um. I think,” Lance looked up. “I mean. I am. I’m bi. I like girls and boys.” Lance shut his eyes. He waited for his dad to swerve off the road, his mom to slap him. Something. He peeked.

His parents were exchanging looks, but nothing serious, nothing that meant disappointment.

“Okay,” His mom said after a moment. “It means a lot that you trust us with this.”

“You knew,” Lance said in a flat tone.

“I wouldn’t say knew, but…” his dad tapered off.

“But you aren’t surprised.”

“No,” his mom concluded.

“Okay?” Lance said.

Lance’s mom leaned forward and kissed her son’s forehead. “More than okay. We love you no matter what. Remember that.”

“Okay,” Lance said looking forward. And for the first time in a long time Lance did feel okay.

***

The end of the semester was less ‘okay’. Things came and went by so quickly Lance almost got whiplash. He didn’t see Keith. He didn’t tell his friends what was going on. He didn’t do much more then study his ass off. 

He was back at home before he knew it, making Christmas cookies and tending to the farm. During winter break Adam Wright emailed him to tell him that Lance not only received all A’s but that he was one of the top students in the program (along with Hunk of course). 

Takashi also emailed him again to check up on him. 

And since getting back on his medication, Lance really was feeling better.

On Christmas day Lance texted Keith:

LanceyLance: Merry Christmas Keith! Hope you have a great break!!! Can’t wait to see you and finally make you watch the new Star Wars movies :)

Keith didn’t reply.

New Year’s Eve:

LanceyLance: Hey, I know we didn’t end last year in a great place. And I really wanted to apologize but I never saw you :( I wanted to do this in person, but I really need you to know I’m sorry. I know it isn’t an excuse, but I was just working through some personal stuff last semester. I really did mean it though. I really want to be your friend. So…happy new year, and hope to see you soon

Mullet: read 12:01


	10. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klangst, Langst and Angst!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did someone ask for a hot plate of angst? OMG I’m sorry this is so emo, but as someone who is actually old enough to remember growing up in 2005, I deserve this lol. I’m sorry for y’all, but I gotta drag these two apart to make the reunion that much sweeter. 
> 
> ***
> 
> (Extra stuff)
> 
> Since the fic is very much centered on Klance, I thought I would tell you some of the fun background details that are happing that I don’t really get to talk about.
> 
> The university lay-out is loosely based on my old college campus, I just rearranged some of the details like the astronomy building. In my head, Garrison Tech is somewhere in either Connecticut or New York. The school is supposed to be something between an MIT and a West Point. It’s a very science-based school with a heavy focus on its space programs. While it is a private university rather than a military college, because of the well-known programs in science and technology, there are a lot of military students on campus.
> 
> Veronica and Adam are good friends and graduated the same year with their PHD. Adam is not a full-time faculty member like Takashi yet, but he will be under review for a permeant position at the end of the year.
> 
> Allura and Matt are grad students. Matt is doing coding and IT stuff. Allura is a bio chemistry major. She wanted to be a doctor and save lives, but her first love is chemistry, so, she’s getting a masters in bio-chemistry for now. Allura is really busy and off doing her own thing. She’s a part of the black lives matter movement on campus and does a lot of activism work on campus and in the community. Allura was adopted and raised by her uncle Coran, who is also a professor on campus (he runs the robotics club that Pidge and Hunk are in). Matt, Allura, Adam and Takashi are all really good friends. Allura is also one of Shiro’s TA’s for his astrochemistry class.
> 
> Lotor and the generals are grad students somewhere on campus. I don’t think they’ll ever show up, but they are running around doing stuff. The MFE pilots are likewise enrolled, running around doing stuff (possible in the ROTC program).

Chapter Nine

Lance was in the astral plane. The same hazy feeling settled in his stomach. It felt like when you knew you were in a dream, but you weren’t aware enough to wake yourself up. 

He turned.

Keith.

Except it wasn’t Keith. Not completely. Keith’s eyes glowed purple, he must have absorbed too much quintessence. Even here in the astral plane his spirit was corrupted. Keith bared his teeth. They looked almost like fangs. The sword in his hand, his bayard, was a slice of purple, rather than the solid black paladin blade.

“Keith,” Lance said. He turned at the sound of his name. Then he pounced at Lance, blade swinging down.

Lance put his arms up; he knew it wouldn’t protect him, but it was instinct. He heard the clash of a weapon. The impact of Keith’s blade against Lance’s reverberated through his bones. His own bayard, forgotten in his hands, had transformed into a red broadsword. 

“Keith. Please. I don’t want to hurt you,” Lance said. Lance thought he saw a flicker of something. Something human. 

But then the eyes focused. “I thought we were rivals,” Keith growled. “This is what you wanted.”

“Keith,” Lance said in a broken voice. He felt a tear slide down his face. Keith stepped back to take another swing. Lance dropped his sword. “You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t hurt me.”

***

When Lance woke up he wasn’t sure where he was. He was uncomfortable, squished in a way too small seat. He was cold, and there’s a mild rocking which made his stomach drop. He opened his eyes. 

He was on the plane back to school. 

With the sleeve of his hood he whipped his eyes. He was crying again. He’d gotten so used to waking up like this he didn’t even question it.

He turned to the window pulling his hood up to give himself some privacy from the person next to him. His phone is on airplane mode, but he pulled it out anyway. Keith never responded to his text. It just says read in small ugly letters. How passive aggressive was that? Lance thought.

He tucked the phone back into his pocket and let his emotions wash over him. Silent tears continued to fall into his lap until he felt numb.

 

***

There was a girl sitting on their couch.

Sure, they had only been gone for a month, but could someone really forget where their room was? Lance thought. But the door was locked. Did she sneak in here and live in the dorm for a month? Maybe Pidge had gotten back first, and she was Pidge’s friend? Lance really doubted the last one. 

“Ummm, hi?” Lance said.

The girl turned. She had long blond hair, a very sailor moon aesthetic, and a wide happy grin. “Oh. Sorry. Hi.”

“Uh—”

She got up, “Oh. Right. Sorry,” She threw out a hand. “I’m Romelle. I’m your new roommate.”

“Oh. Um. Nice to meet you,” Lances eyes darted around the room. Where were they supposed to put her? Did the school really not have enough housing?

“I’m a transfer student? They said a room opened up.” 

Lance tried to return her smile, but then everything clicked. “Wow. It’s really nice to meet. You I’m Lance. Could you uh. Give me one second please.”

Without hearing a reply Lance darted past to Pidge and Keith’s room. He creaked open the door. Sure, enough Keith’s side was empty. The mattress was bare, the floor finally cleaned of his pile of dark, unwashed clothes. Posters gone. The few photos gone.

Something in Lance’s heart cracked and sunk. 

He heard the door open behind him.

“Who are you.”

Lance turned putting on a smile. “Pidge. This is your new roommate Romelle.”

Romelle stuck out a hand ready to greet the new dormmate. Pidge crossed the room ignoring her. “What do you mean new roommate. Where’s Keith?”

“I don’t—”

“What did you do Lance.”

“I didn’t do anything. He just left okay? I don’t know when or why.”

Romelle scurried to the door. “Well I’m just going to go eat dinner with my parents. I’ll be back later.” And then she was gone. 

“Look you scared her off.”

Pidge got in Lance’s face. “Like you scared Keith off?” Pidge’s eyes were cold. Lance didn’t want to deal with this.

“Whatever,” Lance said putting his winter coat back on. “I didn’t make Keith move out okay?” 

“Where are you going?” Pidge called after him.

“A walk.”

Lance ended up at Takashi’s apartment. Nobody was there. Keith’s bike wasn’t in the parking lot. Their spot in the library was empty. Keith wasn’t at his usual coffee shop. 

Eventually Lance ended up in the astronomy building, looking up through the window at the grey sky. He was laying on a pile of snow that had dried and frozen into a hard mess.

It began to snow. Soft flakes of snow settled on his lashes. 

Why did he leave? Did he drop out of school? Was it Lance’s fault? Keith had been avoiding him ever since Halloween. But Lance had done everything he could to apologize. Was it really because of the fight. The almost…kiss?

How had he screwed everything up? He had just figured out his feelings. He was feeling better than he had all semester. Was everything really over between them?

“You okay in here?” a voice said.

Lance turned. Hunk was standing in the door. He knew Lance’s tendency to hang out in the building, but he had never intruded on Lance’s personal hiding spot before.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Pidge told me what happened.”

“What did they say. Because I honestly have no clue what happened. Besides the part where Pidge and I had a fight in front of our new dorm mate.”

“Well. Pidge tried to call Keith. He didn’t answer. So, we don’t know why he’s not in our dorm. Pidge hacked into the main system though. It seems like he’s still enrolled in school. So that’s something.”

“Something.”

“Hey,” Hunk said settling next to Lance. “I know it hurts. It hurts me too. That he just left without a word like that. I thought we were all friends.”

“Yeah.”

“But Keith is probably just dealing with something personal. We don’t know why he moved. So, we shouldn’t expect the worse. Okay?”

“Okay.” Lance said.

***

The trio was trust back into the swing of things at school all too quickly. Romelle turned out to be really nice. Pidge wasn’t exactly keen on her, but nobody could help but get along with Romelle’s bubbly personality. But Romelle was a bio major, so they didn’t see her around much.

Lance ended up switching rooms with her, taking Keith’s old spot, since Romelle and Hunk got along so well. It wasn’t helping him feel better.

Keith wasn’t in Kendo practice. Lance didn’t understand why, but Takashi let him drop out. There were times around campus when Lance thought he saw Keith. Dark, choppy mullet. A flash of dark eyes. A kid wearing way too much black.

But it always turned out to be someone else.

Whenever Lance heard a gruff voice, he instinctively turned towards it, a little slice of hope in his heart.

But it was never Keith.

And every time Lance’s brain made him see who he wanted to see, it hurt a little more.

Eventually Lance started looking at his shoes when he walked. He didn’t turn when he heard a familiar tone or laugh. He didn’t turn when he heard his name. 

The campus wasn’t that big, but it was oblivious to Lance now, that their paths just weren’t going to cross. Keith was either in the wrong place at the wrong time, or he was avoiding Lance. 

Lance tried to make the pain go numb. With school and clubs, it was easy enough to tuck his sadness away. It was all fine until he was staring up at the ceiling in his new bed that somehow felt different despite the same worn mattress beneath him. He would wake reaching out for someone that had never been in his grasp and never would be.

***

Lance saw Keith. 

He honestly didn’t think he would have noticed except that he was with Pidge.

Lance had been studying in the library as usual and had gone to get a cup of the gross, but necessary coffee from the library’s coffee shop. Tucked into the back of the shop, Lance could see Pidge’s floofy hair spiking out in all directions.

Lance meant to surprise Pidge. 

But stopped dead in his tracks. His shoes even made a little squeaking noise. Sitting across from Pidge in his usual black and red ensemble was Keith. He even had a small smile on his face.

Lance’s heart burst in excitement then snuck like a pit. He crept back into the library. He watched and waited for Keith to leave. 

Then he went up to Pidge.

“Why were you talking to him.”

Pidge jumped in surprise at Lance. “What?”

“You were with Keith. Why were you with him.”

“Just because you too had a falling out doesn’t mean he’s not my friend Lance. “

Lance sunk down in the seat across from Pidge. He took a deep breath. “Do you know why he left? Is he mad at me?”

“Believe it or not the we don’t talk about that. The world doesn’t revolve around you.”

Lance wanted to be angry. At Pidge. At Keith. Instead he snuck down farther into the cushioned booth and nodded. “So, you see him often?”

“Once a week? Give or take.”

“So, you actually liked him.”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. Just you, getting along with someone.” 

Pidge adjusted their glasses and made a snorting sound. “It wasn’t like a big deal or anything. When we were living together, it was more like it was three in the morning and he would look up from his book and say, ‘you good?’ and I would look up from the computer and say ‘yeah’ and then we would just do our own thing till five or whenever we went to sleep. I miss that.”

Pidge looked down and spoke again softer, “I really missed him okay.”

“Wow you missed someone, that’s big.”

“He’s my friend.”

A pause

“I miss him too. I really miss him Pidge.”

***

The second time Lance ran into Keith, Keith was alone. And Lance literally ran into him.

Lance didn’t watch where he was going. Always head down. He wasn’t surprised when he ran into someone. It wasn’t even the first time. Lance bounced off the stranger’s chest and had started to skid on the slick sidewalk. The person caught him at the elbow, holding him in place.

“Watch where you’re going,” the person said. 

Lance looked up. Navy eyes, slightly above Lance’s eye level. “Keith,” he said a puff of steam escaping in the cold air. A shiver went down his spine, but he didn’t think it was from the cold. 

Keith looked shocked for a moment. Then he pulled his face into a cool mask. He let go of Lance’s elbow.

“Keith wait,” Lance grabbed at Keith’s collar, holding him, not letting him get away. “We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“Um. Why you left.” Lance couldn’t hide the hurt in his voice. “Why did you leave?”

“I just needed to do that okay.”

“Was it my fault?” 

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault, okay.” Keith looked away from Lance. “I just needed space.”

“You’re a pretty pathetic liar. I know it’s because of me Keith. You left, and you stopped going to kendo, and you just. You didn’t even answer my texts. I apologize.”

Keith shifted away, pulling out of Lance’s grip. “Apologies can’t fix everything Lance.”

“What did I do. What did I do that was so bad?”

Keith didn’t say anything.

“You ran away,” Lance said “You always run away when things aren’t convenient for you. When they aren’t easy.”

“That’s rich coming from you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You pulled away okay.” Keith tugged at the back of his head. “Lance. I like you a lot. You’re stupid and annoying, but I like you anyway. But it hurts. And I just can’t anymore okay? It just isn’t worth it.”

“Keith wait I—”

But Keith was already turning away. “I’m done.” 

Lance didn’t call after him. He watched Keith kick through the snow until he was a speck of black in the distance.

***

“Hey guys,” Lance said pausing the movie. “Can we talk for a few minutes.” It was Friday night. Long ago Friday’s had been designated as movie night. They would watch movies and tv shows and just bum out with whatever take out they were in the mood for. Romelle was out with her friends this weekend, so it was just the original trio.

“What’s up,” Hunk said prompting Lance with a soft smile.

Lance crossed his arms. “For the past couple months, I’ve been kind of all over the place. I’ve been trying to figure things out. And I think you guys deserve an explanation.”

“Lance. We’re your friends unconditionally. You don’t have to tell us anything.”

Lance smiled. “I know. But still. I haven’t been the best person. You guys have been with me through the worst. In camp. You’ve been there when I had anxiety in high school. And I think you guys deserve to know what’s been going on with me the past couple months.” Lance took a deep breath. “The anxiety, the homesickness, a combination of a lot of things. It’s been hard on all of us. But it. I just haven’t been in the best place. I’m back on medication now. And I’m feeling a lot better.”

“We’re really happy for you Lance,” Hunk said.

“There’s something else.” Lance looked down, his two friends on either side of him, waiting to either hug him or give him space. They were always there for him. Lance took a shaky breath. He could do this. “I’ve been dealing with this for a while. Trying to figure out who I am. And. Well, I’m bisexual.” Lance felt a tear slide down his cheek. But he was smiling. He felt so much relief just saying that word. “I’m super queer. And yeah. I like girls. And boys.”

Pidge was the first one to hug him. They caught Lance around the waist and he made a soft ‘oof’ sound as they squeezed. “I’m so fucking proud of you, you moron,” They said. 

Hunk came in on Lance’s other side squeezing the two of them in a big embrace. “Lance. We love you no matter what okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks guys.” Lance let himself be wrapped up in this. This warmth. The tears slide down his face, but he was laughing the whole time. “There’s something else too.”

“What.”

“I think I like Keith.”

“And I’m a computer wiz,” Pidge said. 

Lance gave them a look.

“What,” they said. “I thought we were stating the obvious.”

Lance felt the heat rise to his face. His ears were probably bright red. 

“So, what are you going to tell him?” Hunk said.

Lance looked down and made a guttural noise that was supposed to be a laugh. “Nothing. I think we were supposed to just be two ships passing in the night.” Lance looked up to confused pitying faces. “What? I read that in a poetry book.” Lance didn’t mention he had read it in one of Keith’s poetry books.

“Dude—“Hunk started.

“Look. I’ve already tried. It didn’t work out,” Lance gave a small shrug. “It just wasn’t meant to be.” 

Lance felt their grips tighten. He really did have the best friends in the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! The end is coming soon!!! Thanks for all the comments and kudos :)


	11. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of this crazy college AU? Has Lance really moved on from Keith? 
> 
> You know it's a Klance finally because it's raining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh. We are here! Thank you for reading my hot mess. Sorry this was such a rush to the finish line. I really just wanted to get this out before NYCC. I would have liked to explore Keith and Lance’s budding friendship more. I also feel both Keith and Lance's (but especially Keith) feelings weren’t super explicit. But I also felt that this was truer to canon, which is what I was going for? Most fanfics are pretty explicit with lots of blushing and stuff. Which I love, but I was trying to go for something a little subtler here. But I also feel like Keith’s personality and feelings also didn’t shine like they could have. I definitely rushed through things and changed my mind about ideas half way through (like Lance’s family and the farm was going to have more emphasis, but I just couldn’t get it to fit naturally into the timeline). This fic was really weird and out of my usual style of fic. And it wasn’t perfect by any means. But I put my heart into this! Thank you so much for reading. I’ve never written something off the fly like this with just a seed of an idea. Heck I’ve never written more than a one shot. Writing this chapter by chapter was different/difficult, but also so much fun. This was such a rewarding process, so again, thank you!

Chapter Ten

“You did really great today Lance,” Takashi said. Since coming back, Takashi had remained Lance’s sparring partner. “You know,” Takashi continued. “If you really wanted to, you could probably make the national team in a few years.”

“Thanks. I like it, but it’s not something I really want to peruse seriously. I really like engineering you know?”

Takashi smiled, he must have known since he also picked school over the sport.

“You’ve really improved a lot,” he said patting Lance’s shoulder.

Lance was getting better. Most of the seniors couldn’t best Lance anymore. He had even won a few matches against Takashi. 

Over the past month Lance had driven himself into a grind. With school, with club, everything. The repetitive cycle of practice and school was the only thing that could make him focus. When he didn’t have homework or practice, he was at the gym. He was living in a mind-numbing haze. 

He was feeling better. He wasn’t over his stupid crush, but he would be soon. He had his friends by his side. But his mind liked to wander to painful things. So, he kept drilling himself, knowing that eventually he would get over his heart break and move on.

But man, in the moment it hurt like hell.

And he could help asking, “How’s Keith doing.”

Takashi paused. “You guys still haven’t made up.”

Lance shook his head. “I don’t think we’re going to,” Lance said softly.

Takashi sighed. “I thought you guys made a pretty good team. I feel bad for pushing you two together.”

“It’s not a big deal,” Lance shrugged.

“Still.”

Lance put his hands up. “It’s okay really. I don’t need to make up with him. I get where he’s coming from. I just wish he knew. That. I’m sorry.”

“I could do that for you.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Lance stared at the ground. 

“He’s too stubborn to listen to me anyway.”

“If things are meant to work out they will,” Lance said. 

Takashi gave him a small smile. Lance didn’t want to see that expression from Takashi. Pity. But he knew it was there because he cared.

***

It was a brisk day at the beginning of February. Everyone with common sense was bundled up and tucked away in their dorms. Lance had been studying in the library but was now sitting outside on a bench to clear his head. 

His nose and hands stung. He was just about to go back inside when he heard his name. 

“Lonce,” Allura said. 

Lance waved Allura over before shoving his hand back in his pocket. “Hey.”

Allura practically ran at Lance clutching at his shoulders. “Thank goodness. You’re single right?”

Lance felt a stab in his heart. Lance didn’t think she meant to sound mean, but it still hurt a little, that she just assumed. 

“I need your help,” she continued.

“Er. Help? With what?”

“You know I’m running the Valentine’s day fundraiser.”

“I saw the email.” Lance hadn’t read the whole thing. He knew he wouldn’t go. He was obviously just going to shut himself in the dorm with a jar of peanut butter and a stack of Oreos. 

“Well now it can’t happen,” she said in a rush, obviously upset “because I don’t have enough participants.”

“I don’t know…” Lance said seeing where this was going.

“Please. I’ve already got everybody I know working on this. I’ve seriously asked everybody.”

“What exactly do I have to do?”

“You know that show the dating game? It was a game show in the 70’s I think.”

“I know the general concept.”

“Well. I need contestants. I still have one spot left. Please.”

“I uh…”

“Think of the children Lance. This is for the children. It’s to raise funds for science programs in low income schools.”

“Yeah but, surely there must be other people. Someone else who can do it.”

“Lance. There is seriously nobody else. I’m doing it. I’ve already had three people drop, and I practically had to pull teeth to get people to sign up. But the tickets are sold out, so we can’t cancel now.”

“Can’t you just use an audience member or something?”

“How do you think that would go? Everybody wants to be there and watch, but nobody actually wants to participate.”

“Probably because they want to make fun of the poor people that are humiliating themselves.”

“Look. Lonce. You are an expert showman. You have the charm. I’ve seen it at events and meetings. You will do really great.”

Lance took a deep breath, regretting everything. “Okay.”

“Perfect. Thank you.” She gave Lance a quick squeeze. “I’ll send you the survey form tonight.”

“Survey?”

“Yeah. For compatibility. I’ve got to match you with some good girls?” Allura said with a wink before turning back down the snowy path.

“Boys too,” Lance said. The words came out before he could stop himself. He looked up. Allura was half turned towards him. He felt more shocked than she looked. “I mean. Can I be matched with boys too?” Lance began to stutter. “Since I like both I mean…” He scratched the back of his head. “Since I’m bi and all…”

“Oh. Of course. No problem,” Allura said with a big grin, “I can definitely do that.”

Lance smiled. “Okay perfect then.”

***

Lance was nervous. There was no denying it. 

Allura had tried to explain how this was going to go, but it was still a lot to take in. Three students had been chosen to be the “date” person. Lance would be one of them. He would sit behind a curtain, his three chosen matches on the other side. With the help of the host, Lance would ask his matches questions, and choose which one he wanted to go on a date with.

Sounded easy enough. 

Lance wasn’t going to deny he loved the spotlight. But everyone was taking this way too seriously. He thought it was more of a fake stage thing. But oh no. The two other “date” people, two upper classmen (a boy and girl Lance didn’t know), and him were locked in a room, unable to communicate with the audience or see their prospective matches. Allura had even taken their phones.

“It’s about finding true love,” Allura had said starry-eyed.

“You mean it’s for the children. For the fundraiser,” Lance butted it.

“Oh right. Yep for the children,” Allura looked over her clipboard. “Okay. So, I’m just going to leave you guys here till your turn. It should be about fifteen minutes for each round. Greg you can come with me. You’re first. Florona you’re up second. And Lance is the grand finally.”

“Wait. Why do I have to go last,” Lance said.

“Uh. That’s just how it worked out,” Allura said looking away. “Well. I gotta get the show running. See you two in a bit.” And with a little wave she was dragging Greg out with her. 

Lance tried to make small talk, but the girl seemed just as nervous as he was. Probably more so. Eventually another backstage person came in and pulled her away as well, and it was just Lance. 

“Okay. You got this. Not a big deal. It’s just supposed to be something fun. Do it for the kids Lance.” Lance fidgeted. He wasn’t exactly dressed super nice, this wasn’t like the bachelor, he didn’t need a tux, but Lance was definitely trying to look cool in ripped jeans and a T-shirt. He wondered if the jacket and beanie would be too hot on stage, but he didn’t want to take it off either. 

The area they were using as the backstage was the campus’s black box theatre. It was a small pitch-black room, down a couple hallways slightly far away from the small stage they were using for the event. Allura couldn’t rent out the real stage where the school performed plays and musicals, but the stage they were using, deep in the Student Center’s basement, was a pretty good size. And Lance knew that when sold out, the stage would be packed with at least a thousand students.

Lance listened to the rain to calm his mind. The east coast was having a minor heat wave at the moment, which meant it was currently sixty degrees instead of the usual February twenty. But it was still miserable outside, the weather somewhere between rain and sleet. 

After what seemed like an eternity later, the same backstage person came and got Lance. She clipped a mic onto his lapel. “Don’t worry. It’s not on yet.” She said. She gave Lance the battery pack and he put it in his pocket.

“So. Do I need to like do anything?”

“Don’t worry. The host will lead you through everything. You just have to smile and look pretty,” The staff member joked.

“Okay,” Lance smirked. “I can do that.”

She opened a door and they were in the wings on the stage. Lance tried to make out Hunk and Pidge, but it was pretty useless. There were a lot of people. From Lance’s side of the stage, he couldn’t see anything besides Florona sitting on a stool; a curtain blocked the rest of the stage off. 

The next thing Lance knew, he was being called on stage to take the girl’s spot. He didn’t even see who she had ended up with. People called out at him. Lance did his best to smile and wave, but he didn’t even think he could hear anything anymore. 

“I personally know this chap,” A voice echoed distantly over the speakers. “He’s a great guy, and I’m sure he’ll find someone special tonight. Give it up for our little Loverboy.” 

“Matt?” Lance said. His voice came over the speakers distantly. Lights flashed in his eyes as he sat down on the stool.

“Oh. Hey buddy. Didn’t know I was the one running this did you. Like he said, I’m Matt and I’m the host for the evening. Do you guys still not want my twitch handle?” Matt stood at a podium at eh front of the stage. He was dressed up like a dork, with a Gamer t-shirt and sports coat over top, but he looked like he was enjoying every minute of it. 

The crowd fake booed and mocked Matt back. He was obviously doing a good job, keeping the crowd engaged. “Fine your loss. Like I’ve said for the past two rounds. We’ve kept our contestants a little in the dark here. They have no idea what’s going on. You ready buddy?”

“I suppose?” Lance said trying to play the eager but dimwitted part. It wasn’t so hard. Lance felt better knowing that Matt was there. 

“Well we’ve selected three students just for you.”

“Awesome,” Lance said.

“Let’s bring them out. But remember guys, don’t go shouting out names. We’re trying to keep everyone’s identity a secret in case they know each other.”

“I love you Matt,” someone in the crowd screamed.

“Hey that’s my girlfriend everybody. See someone really does like me.”

The crowd laughed and whistled. 

“You ready folks?” 

The crowd cheered.

“Our first contestant is a junior. She’s studying political science and astrophysics. She’s one smart gal this one. She likes long hikes and would love to learn to fly a plane someday. Give it up for contestant number one.” 

The crowd cheered. Lance didn’t have a second to think before Matt was talking again.

“And here we have contestant number two! Contestant number two in always running around campus. You’ve probably seen her around running events or working for change on campus. She loves chemistry and reading a good book. And look at that, she’s a graduate student. Going after our young Loverboy contestant? I think we have a cradle snatcher over here folks.”

The crowd laughed along with Matt. 

“And our final contestant,” 

The person must have walked out because there was a slight mumbling around the crowd. 

“Contestant number three and our Loverboy over here scored the highest on the compatibility survey out of any of our matches.”

The crowd oohed appreciatively.

“Contestant number three likes long drives, working out at the gym, and looking at the stars. Let’s give him a hand.”

Him. 

Matt had said him. It was a guy.

Yes, Lance had asked for a guy, but he really hadn’t expected to get one. And they had scored really high on compatibility. Lance was intrigued.

“Before we get into the questions let’s talk about you Loverboy. You’re a freshman in the engineering department, right? Must be hard.”

“It’s hard, but I do really like it.”

“A little birdy told me you got third in your year. Pretty impressive.”

“Yeah, but it’s only been a semester so…”

“Don’t be so humble,” Matt said. “Loverboy over here is not just smart folks. He’s talented in martial arts, he loves cooking with his family, and he’s a little bit of a retro video game enthusiast. He’s really a great kid. And as you can see by our three contestants, Loverboy recently came out a bisexual. Let’s give him a hand.”

Lance didn’t know what to expect from that comment. Sure, Lance was out now. He had mentioned it in passing to other classmates. He had a pride button on his backpack, but this was really coming out. The crowd didn’t seem to mind. In fact, they loved it. People were clapping and cheering for him. It felt good. Lance gave them all a little wave. He heard a whistle.

“So. I’m going to ask the questions and our contestants, along with Loverboy over here will answer them. At the end of the game Loverboy will get to pick who he’s going go on a date with, and that’s the game! You guys ready?”

“I’m ready,” Lance said.

“So, let’s start out easy what would you like to do for a first date if given the chance? Contestant number one.”

“Just a walk on the beach or something cheesy. I think that’s the best way to really talk to someone.” Contestant number one had a cheerful voice. She sounded nice.

“Contestant number two?” Matt said.

“I’m a little bit of a romantic myself. But, I would want to do something fun for a first date, so it isn’t so awkward, maybe like a pottery paint studio or something like that. An activity,” The voice sounded very familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“Very cool. And contestant number three?”

“Uh,” There was a rustle of fabric. “This is going to sound horrible, but I don’t really like planning stuff like dates. I would rather let my partner plan it. But not in like a lazy way. I just want to do something that my date actually likes. So instead of planning, I just want things to happen naturally. But yeah. I just really want to do something that I know the other person will enjoy. So, it depends.”

“That’s actually really sweet,” Lance heard himself saying. 

“Wow. Is someone already smitten?” Matt said. He felt his ears heat up. He must be blushing. “So, what’s your answer Loverboy?”

“I agree with contestant number three. It depends on the person. I’m kind of a silly romantic, but I don’t think I would go to crazy on the first date. I would save that for later,” Lance said with a wink. “But yeah. I would probably like to just chill out and watch a movie in the dorm or go ice skating or something.”

“There are a lot of great free things to do on campus kids. Take advantage of it,” Matt said. “Okay question number two. Name something you look for in a partner. Loverboy you first.”

“Uh. I don’t know. I’m really affectionate, so I guess I look for someone that can handle that? I don’t know if I look for something specific. Obviously, the person has to be a nice, good person. But really, I’m looking for that natural spark, that chemistry,” Lance paused. “But I guess I kind of have a thing for long flowing hair.”

“Well I can confidently say, all three of our contestants meet the hair requirement.” 

Lance tried to imagine a guy with long hair. Just how long was it?

“Contestant number one?”

“I’ll be honest Matt. Attractiveness matters. It’s the first thing I notice about someone. We all do it. It’s stupid to pretend we don’t think about that.”

As true as that answer was, it really turned Lance off. In his mind, it was already between contestant two and three.”

“Contestant number two?”

“I look for someone with a good personality. A lot of times people think I tend to be really serious, but I really just want to have a lot of fun. So yeah. A good sense of humor matters. And they can’t be an asshole. I really don’t like that.”

“I feel like most people don’t like assholes,” Matt joked. “Contestant three.”

“Uh. I’m not super great at opening up to new people,” A pause. “But honesty and trust are really important to me. Family has to be important to my partner as well. My parents have a great, loving relationship. I want something like that. But I also need someone who can push me, challenge me to try new things. I grew up on a farm. I think you can compare that with a good relationship. It wasn’t always easy. It was about hard work and getting a little dirty along the way. But in the end of all that hard work is worth it.”

“Wow. You lived on a farm?” Lance butted in, “Me too. I kind of miss the mud and the cows and just shoveling hay and stupid stuff.”

“Yeah. I didn’t think I would miss the smell of manure,” The contestant said. “But in an odd way I do. It just smells like home. And you can’t get that here. And don’t get me started on the weather here. I miss working out in the sun.”

“I know. Right,” Lance said excitedly. 

“Okay you too, back to the questions.” They went through a couple more basic, cheesy questions. Each time it was more obvious that Lance liked number three. Number one just didn’t click with Lance at all. Number two sounded nice and charming, but again something wasn’t right. Lance’s gut kept telling him this guy is cool. This guy is special. You got to meet this guy.

“We’re running out of time,” Matt said. “So we’re going to be a little quick. What’s your biggest fear and what’s the most important thing to you.”

Lance didn’t even listen to the first one. She was out of the running. The second person said something about legacy that was way over Lance’s head. He was really waiting for that third voice to speak again. 

The guy spoke in a soft, husky voice that Lance thought was super sexy. He had to be hot. Plus, he had answered the question in ways Lance really liked. He wanted to get to know this person better.

“Well,” The contestant said. “My greatest fear? I guess losing people. I almost lost my dad to a fire and that was really scary. Then my brother was in an accident. Then recently this guy I had a big crush on kind of turned me down. I’m scared people will leave me,” he cleared his throat. “But yeah, the most important thing is my family. It’s not just my parents and my brother. They’re a big part of it, but the other people I’ve connected with in my life, there aren’t a lot of people, but they’re all really special to me.”

“And our Loverboy?”

“Uh. Yeah. This is hard. I have a lot of insecurities. I get so wrapped up in myself sometimes. But I guess I’m afraid I’ll never be enough for someone. Or I’ll be too much for them. I don’t know,” Lance scratched the back of his neck “But yeah. Same for me. Family is my number one. I have a big family. But it’s my support system. And I love them. Both my family and my found family.”

“Well Loverboy. I think I might have a feeling who you are going to pick. But we’re going to do a quick twitter poll to see what the audience thinks. So, everybody get out your phones and go to my twitter account again.”

A few minutes passed by as the crowd weighed in.

It didn’t matter. Lance knew who he was picking. 

“Who do you think the audience picked for you Loverboy?”

“I mean. I have a guess. I hope they pick the same person as me. But I don’t want to give anything away just yet.”

“Well with a 75% majority,” Matt said squinting at his phone. “Wow that’s pretty high, most of our crowd thinks you should go with contestant number three.” 

The crowd cheered. A couple of people tried to start a chant. 

“So, whose it going to be?”

“You guys are right. I really, genuinely want to go on a date with contestant number three.”

“And what about you contestant number three?”

“Yeah. He seems cool.”

“Okay. Thanks for playing you guys. But I’m going to have our other contestants leave. Let’s have our Loverboy and our winner step forward so they can meet.”

Lance stepped forward. Sure, his stomach was in knots, but he was excited. He walked around the curtain. 

Lance stopped in his tracks. There was a blond girl Lance didn’t know walking off the stage. And there was Allura. She gave Lance a little wave, but she was leaving too. Lance hadn’t picked her. He hadn’t even realized she was one of his matches, even though he subconsciously knew the voice.

But Lance wasn’t thinking about any of that.

In front of him was the boy Lance had chosen. 

“Keith,” Lance said with a gasp.

***

Keith, with his stupid mullet and a leather jacket, stood in front of Lance. He was obviously just as shocked as Lance was. 

How had Lance not recognized the voice? The backstory? The answers? It was so Keith. Lance felt stupid now.

Lance reached out.

That little bit of movement sprung Keith into action. He ripped his mic off, tossed it at Matt, who luckily caught it, and then he vaulted off the stage. He took off running down the aisle and out of the building.

People were whispering. They were looking at Lance confused. But Lance didn’t care. He untangled himself from the mess of wires and ran after Keith. 

“Keith wait,” Lance called after him. People stood up in their seats to watch, but nobody moved into the aisle, either the crowd was too shocked, or they were allowing Lance to get ahead. Matt said something snarky to the crowd. 

But again, Lance didn’t care. All he cared about was getting to Keith.

It was raining hard outside. Lance put his hood up, but it wasn’t going to do much for long. He saw a dark figure sprinting away from campus. Lance blasted down the sidewalk.

He jerked out a hand and caught Keith’s elbow. “Wait. Come on. Keith.” 

Keith tried to pull away. But Lance wasn’t having any of that. “Let’s talk.”

“I don’t want to,” Keith was turned away from Lance.

“I don’t really care if you want to.”

“What were you even doing there?” Keith said.

“Allura asked me. What about you. I can’t believe you did that.”

“Takashi made me. He said it was a favor for Allura. I should have known better. He seemed up to something.” Keith finally pulled his hand out of Lance’s death grip, but he didn’t move away.

Lance walked around, making Keith face him, look at him. Finally, Keith looked down at Lance, his dark eyes unreadable. “So, your bi now?”

“Yeah. I realized. I mean. Uh. You,” Now it was Lance who looked away “I figured some stuff out.” 

A pause.

“So, we are the most compatible,” Lance said.

“So? That doesn’t mean anything,” Keith said in a rough voice.

“It’s not nothing. I mean. In the end I picked you. I’m always picking you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean. I don’t know. The universe. It always seems to be bringing me right back to you Keith. Every time.”

“You think the universe wants us to be together,” Keith said crossing his arms.

“Look I know that was cheesy. But seriously. I missed you. Do you know how hard it’s been for me? I can’t get over you no matter how long I tried.”

“Well what about me? You pulled away Lance. That was all you.”

“I wasn’t ready yet.”

“Bullshit. You know I don’t make friends easily. That I’m…closed off. And you just led me on. I’d been pining over you all semester. But I knew you were straight, so I gave up on you. But then you went and made me so confused all the time.”

“Look. I’m not confused anymore,” Lance crossed his arms. “What I did. Pulling away. It was wrong. I’m sorry. But you pulled away too Keith. You practically ran away from us. Do you know how much that hurt Pidge and Hunk. How much it hurt me? All I wanted was to say that I’m sorry. I don’t expect you to apologize or accept my apology. But I just wanted you to listen. Okay? So, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for how I treated you. And I’m sorry I led you on. And I’m sorry I can’t stop thinking about you no matter how hard I try.”

Keith didn’t say anything. He simply stared at Lance, his mouth slightly open.

Lance dragged at his nose. It didn’t do much good with the rain pelting down. Keith looked a mess with his wet hair and slightly red nose, and Lance was sure he didn’t look any better. 

Lance turned away. He took a step. “Whatever. Fine.” 

“Lance.” Keith said it so soft that at first Lance thought he had imagined it. “Lance. I’m sorry. I was stupid. And,” Keith took a shaky breath. “I miss you too. God, I miss you so much.”

Lance turned back to Keith. 

“What are we even fighting about anyway,” Lance said after a moment. 

“I have no idea anymore,” Keith said. 

Lance thought he was crying, but he couldn’t tell. Rain dripped down the bridge of his nose. Not breaking eye contact, Lance put out a tentative hand to grasp Keith’s jacket lapels. 

“So, you can’t stop thinking about me?” Keith said turning his head down to look Lance more directly in the eye. 

“Shut up okay.”

“Hey Lance.”

“What?” Lance snapped. 

“I like you. I really like you.” 

Lance met Keith’s eyes. Lance edged closer. He felt Keith breath. Lance waited there. Waiting for Keith to say the okay. 

Lance felt a hand snake around his back, pulling him in. Lance moved a hand up into Keith’s hair. It was completely wet now, but somehow still silky smooth, like Lance had always imagined it would be. Lance gripped the back of Keith’s neck. 

One of them moved. And it was like magnets locking together. Chapped but soft lips sliding into place, as if it were so natural, so right. 

It was so soft, so tentative. 

Lance moved forward. Keith teased his lips back. And Lance moved forward again. Keith met him there. Lance cupped Keith’s face. He felt a hand on the back of his neck, pulling through his hair. Lance tugged at Keith’s mullet as they deepened the kiss.

It was miserable. It was cold. It was raining. But Lance felt hot all over. He felt free. Every weight lifting off his chest. Like this was the moment that was supposed to happen. Like this was the point where Lance’s life was finally clicking together. Which was stupid and cheesy to think, because Lance had figured out everything on his own and gotten where he wanted to be a long time ago.

But still. This was so right.

The pulled apart. 

Lance touched his forehead to Keith’s. He could see the rain caught on his dark lashes. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Keith said back. Lance pulled Keith into a hug, arms around his neck, not willing to let go. 

Keith squeezed him back. “Uh. We should probably get out of the rain.”

“In a minute,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s hair. “I like it right here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

A pause. 

“So, you liked me for all of last semester huh?”

“Oh my god. I’m not talking about that with you Mister universe wants us to be together crap.”

Lance pulled back slightly so he could look at Keith’s face. God, he loved that face. “You don’t get it. I kept having these weird dreams. Premonitions. I can’t really remember what happened, but I think somebody was trying to tell me something. And whenever I was around you I would get this super weird feeling. That I knew you, and that, like, I don’t know. It’s weird.”

Keith paused a moment. Something shone in his eyes. Recognition? “I believe you,” he said simply. 

Keith leaned in again giving Lance another light kiss. And Lance kissed back.

***

That night Hunk, Pidge, Lance and Keith had a sleepover in the living room. They watched movies and joked and ate bad Chinese food, falling into their old pattern. Except now Lance and Keith were holding hands, and they kept getting caught staring at one another.

They set up blankets and pillows around the TV, everyone refusing to sleep till about four in the morning. 

Lance woke up snuggled into Keith’s side, a warm arm wrapped around him. 

He hadn’t had a weird dream. He wasn’t crying. Everything felt right. At ease. 

Lance snuggled back into Keith’s side, his head nuzzled in the nook of Keith’s chest. 

Lance didn’t think he was going to have any bad dreams for a really long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again. Thank you so much for reading and for all your nice thoughts and just thank you!
> 
> Also shameless plug. In my opinion this isn't my best work. If you love Lance, I have a great fic for you! Looking Forward! If you want to read something else from me, this is what I recommend. It's just a short one shot, but it has lots of feelings and angst if you're into that.


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